2024’s Nobel Recipients in Physics used the power of physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI). John Hopfield is the creator of an associative memory that stores and reconstructs images and other patterns in data. Geoffrey Hinton invented a method that autonomously finds properties in data, which then performs tasks like identifying specific elements in pictures.

Advancing AI and Physics

John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton, seen in the picture, are awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics; Photo: Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP.

Ellen Moons, a member of the Nobel committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said the two winners “used fundamental concepts from statistical physics to design artificial neural networks that function as associative memories and find patterns in large data sets.”

She said these networks advanced physics research and “have also become part of our daily lives, for instance, in facial recognition and language translation.”

The Nobel Committee said in a press release, “This technology was originally inspired by the structure of the brain.” In an artificial neural network, nodes with different values represent the brain’s neurons. The nodes influence each other through con­nections that can be likened to synapses and which can be made stronger or weaker. The network is trained by developing stronger connections between nodes with simultaneously high values.

“The laureates’ work has already been of the greatest benefit,” said Moons. “In physics, we use artificial neural networks in a vast range of areas, such as developing new materials with specific properties.”

The Nobel Physics Award comes a day after two American scientists won the medicine prize for discovering microRNA.

The physics prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million) from the estate of the award’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. It has been awarded 117 times. The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.

The Nobel prizes continue with chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. On Friday, the committee will announce the Nobel Peace Prize winner, followed by the economics award on October 14.

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