The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics to John J Hopfield and Geoffrey E Hinton “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.”
"Machine learning has long been important for research, including the sorting and analysis of vast amounts of data. John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton used tools from physics to construct methods that helped lay the foundation for today’s powerful machine learning. Machine learning based on artificial neural networks is currently revolutionising science, engineering and daily life," said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
"This year’s laureates used tools from physics to construct methods that helped lay the foundation for today’s powerful machine learning," it added.
John Hopfield created a structure that can store and reconstruct information.
Geoffrey Hinton invented a method that can independently discover properties in data and which has become important for the large artificial neural networks now in use.
John J Hopfield was born 1933 in Chicago, IL, US. He completed his PhD in 1958 from Cornell University and is currently a professor at Princeton University.
Geoffrey E Hinton was born in 1947 in London. He completed his PhD in 1978 from The University of Edinburgh and is a professor at the University of Toronto, Canada.
