Nobel Prize in Physics 2024

Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2024¹ for their work on foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.  Whilst Hinton but was inspired by Hopfield's 1982 paper² they never co-authored.  To learn more about their work and the work that has inspired them I decided to explore their published articles (over 300) and the work they cited (over 3000) over their career.  It's interesting to explore the influences they explicitly reference in their work to better understand how ideas build upon each other.

You can explore this research yourself using Nature Navigator (free access with login), to whet your appetite here are three insights that stood out to me.

1. In addition to the expected work on artificial intelligence, I was surprised by the breadth of their research interests which includes protein structure, cognitive processes and electron behaviour.

2. Having been inspired by Hopfield's work, Hinton developed the field of artificial neural networks considerably by nurturing and collaborating with other pioneers in the field.  Hopfield combined his passions of physics with neural networks, with a strong focus on electron behaviour and material properties.

3. Lastly the role of corporate research is often not emphasised in academic announcements.  Whilst I as many will be familiar with the recent AI research from tech giants including Google, I was less aware of the foundations Nokia placed.  Nokia lead in the affiliations of 99 authors and 170 articles within this analysis.