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.”
This year’s two Nobel Prize laureates in physics have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning. John Hopfield created an associated memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data.
Geoffrey Hinton invented a method that can autonomously find properties in data, and perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in pictures.
Thanks to their work humanity now has a new item in its toolbox, which we can choose to use for good purposes.
Machine learning based on artificial neural networks is currently revolutionizing science, engineering, and daily life.
The field is already on its way to enable breakthroughs toward building a sustainable society, such as identifying new functional materials. How deep learning by artificial neural networks will be used in the future depends on how we humans choose to use these incredibly powerful tools, already present in many aspects of our lives.
