Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for pioneering studies on artificial neural networks
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics have been announced. Here are all the details.
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton. These are leading figures in the development of artificial neural networks and computers capable of autonomous learning. Their contribution laid the foundations of machine learning, a field that is now fundamental in many scientific disciplines and in everyday life.
In the motivation for the award, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences underlined how “computer learning, based on artificial neural networks, is revolutionizing science, engineering and many aspects of our daily lives”. Hopfield and Hinton’s work, which began using physics tools, has enabled the development of technologies capable of analyzing enormous amounts of data, accelerating progress in numerous fields.
A Nobel with a long tradition
The Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded for the first time in 1901, rewards those who have “contributed to the well-being of humanity”, in line with Nobel’s wishes. The selection of winners takes place through a rigorous process involving a list of candidates, drawn up based on suggestions from experts and previous winners. The names of the candidates remain secret.
Hopfield and Hinton succeed Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier, last year’s winners. The prize went to them for having created pulses of light lasting Attoseconds, useful for observing phenomena inside atoms and molecules.
The other Nobel Prizes of 2024
Nobel week began on Monday with the Medicine prize, awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNAs, molecules that regulate gene expression in cells. On Wednesday it will be the turn of Chemistry, while on Thursday the prize for Literature will be announced and on Friday the one for Peace. Finally, the Nobel Prize for Economics will be awarded next Monday.
Ceremony and tradition
After the announcement, the winners receive a phone call directly from the Academy secretary, often caught by surprise while they are sleeping, in class or working in the laboratory. On 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, the graduates will be invited to Stockholm for the official ceremony, in the presence of the Swedish royal family. During the gala evening, they will receive a medal, a diploma and a sum of 11 million Swedish crowns (approximately 967,000 euros), to be divided among the winners.
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