The Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics to scientists John Hopfield from the American Princeton University and Geoffrey Hinton from the University of Toronto for "discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning using artificial neural networks", it was announced today in Stockholm.
This year's Nobel Prize winners in physics used tools from physics to develop the methods that underlie today's powerful machine learning.
John Hopfield, born in 1933 in Chicago, created associative memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data.
Geoffrey Hinton, born in 1947 in London, invented a method that can autonomously find features in data to perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in images.
When we talk about artificial intelligence, we often think of machine learning using artificial neural networks.
This year's laureates have carried out significant work with artificial neural networks since the 1980s, according to a statement from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
"The work of the two laureates is already of great benefit and in physics artificial neural networks are used in a wide range of areas, such as the development of new materials with specific properties," said the president of the Nobel Committee for Physics Ellen Munns.
The Nobel Prize consists of a gold medal, a diploma and a check for 11 million Swedish kronor (about 970.000 euros) shared by the laureates.
Pierre Agostini (France), Ferend Kraus (Hungary) and Anne Luije (France) received the Nobel Prize for Physics last year for their contribution to the research of the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules.
This year's Nobel Prize awarding season began yesterday.
The Nobel Prizes exist thanks to the Swedish scientist and industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who wanted money to be allocated from his fund each year to individuals who have made the most significant contribution to humanity.
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