Scientists John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton have been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking contributions to machine learning and artificial neural networks. Their discoveries, which apply principles of physics to computing, have revolutionized science, engineering and daily life.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award on Tuesday, recognizing their work in building the foundations of today’s machine learning technologies. The two scientists will share the 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) prize.
John Hopfield invented the Hopfield network, which uses a method based on atomic spin physics to store and recreate patterns, a major breakthrough in neural network design. Geoffrey Hinton expanded on Hopfield’s work by developing the Boltzmann machine, a network that can learn to recognize data patterns.
Hopfield is currently a professor at Princeton University, while Hinton is a professor at the University of Toronto.