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?

When he's standing, in front of you

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.

[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.

Mets place Mark Vientos on 10-day IL, option Max Kranick in flurry of roster moves - SNY

There you go.^†

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

[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."

Nike on Amazon; Nike’s Disastrous Pivot; Inevitability, Intentionality, and Amazon - Stratechery by Ben Thompson

"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?"

You can have your cake and eat it too

(Mumbles of assent)

How can I get rid of the fake girls on social media that are claiming to be hookups? Is there a way to shuffle through them and the real women that actually want to talk?

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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

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

Here come the glassholes, part II - Financial Times

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

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

Why are so many US conservatives in this day and age still against racial mixing? They won't say it in public, but they are still against the mixing between Blacks and whites? Why?

Whatever.

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:

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

Why Elon Musk's satellites are 'dropping like flies' - Yahoo

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

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

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

Dementia: Switching to MIND diet even later in life can lower risk - Medical News Today

Whatever.

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

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

Water Discovered Around a Young, Sun-Like Star For First Time - ScienceAlert

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

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

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

Remainder of Bonnaroo 2025 canceled in Tennessee due to severe weather - CNN