The Nobel Prize in physics was awarded on Tuesday to the American John Hopfield and the Canadian-British Geoffrey Hinton. They are rewarded for their fundamental discoveries in machine learning and artificial neural networks.
“The two winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in physics used the tools of physics to develop methods that form the basis of today’s powerful machine learning systems,” the jury said in their statement. They have been working on the subject since the 1980s.
John Hopfield, 91 years old and professor at Princeton University (USA), and Geoffrey Hinton, 76 years old and professor at the University of Toronto in Canada, were awarded “for their fundamental discoveries and inventions that on machine learning capabilities using artificial neural networks.
>> Listen to the interview with Didier Queloz, Nobel Prize in Physics 2019: Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton: interview with Didier Queloz / On 12:30 am / 5 min. / today at 12:33
Artificial neural networks
“The 2024 winners used fundamental concepts from statistical physics to design artificial neural networks that act as consensus memories and find patterns in large data sets,” said Ellen Moons, chair of the Nobel physics committee, in front of the press.
These artificial neural networks have been used to advance research in fields as diverse as particle physics, materials science and astrophysics. They are now part of our daily lives, she continued.
“I’m surprised”
“I’m shocked… I never imagined this could happen,” replied Geoffrey Hinton and the jury with him.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to the Franco-Swedish Anne L’Huillier, the French Pierre Agostini and the Austro-Hungarian Ferenc Krausz for their research on flashes of light which made it possible to understand the ultra-fast movements of electrons . . in atoms and molecules.
The third scientific Nobel, chemistry, will be awarded on Wednesday. The amount of the prize is 11 million Swedish crowns, which corresponds to approximately 910,000 francs.
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