How did a computer scientist such as Geoffrey Hinton manage to win a Nobel Prize in physics when computer science already has its own Nobel Prize equivalent in the Turing Awards?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

What is the best true Hollywood story you know?

In awarding prizes, the Nobel Committees often seem only marginally more competent than MTG is at explaining meteorology. And if they can give a literature prize for lyrics like:

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*

Does the Lil Wayne song ‘Lollipop’ refers to a Lollipop sweet or a metaphor?

You can have your cake and eat it too

When he's standing, in front of you

[Younger voice] "But wait a minute, Ising-Lenz goes back to the 1920's. And didn't Hinton plagiarise rather a lot? He also didn't invent modern backprop, did he, that's Linnainmaa? And Amari preceded Hopfield, too. That's not a good look."

Will German support for Ukraine decrease after the early elections on February 23, 2025?

"Hey guys, AI is pretty big so let's centre our prizes on it this year. We can get some attention, and it's all about advertising, at the end of the day, isn't it?"

"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"

[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"

Kentucky Downs No. 11 Tigers 16-4 in Clemson Regional - Clemson Tigers

Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:

They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.

"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"

Why is there so much evil in the world?

[The basic structure of artificial neural networks] has close similarities with spin models in statistical physics applied to magnetism or alloy theory. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes research exploiting this connection to make breakthrough methodological advances in the field of ANN.

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

There you go.^†

Subway owner buys mega-popular chicken chain in $1 billion deal - AL.com

^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).

In December 1973, when Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, comedian Tom Lehrer dropped his mic and stamped on it—satire had just died.

(Mumbles of assent)

South Korea’s Venus-focused cubesat advances as larger missions face NASA cuts - SpaceNews

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

Whatever.

A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

U.S. Open power rankings: Every player at Oakmont ranked Nos. 1-156 - NBC Sports

"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"

Whatever.

"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"

Quantum Vacuum Breakthrough: Oxford Physicists Make Light Emerge From “Nothing” - SciTechDaily