John Hopfield, Geoffrey Hinton win Nobel Prize in Physics for machine learning breakthrough

US scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian colleague Geoffrey Hinton have won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for their contributions to machine learning. The prize is worth $1.1 million and is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Nobel Laureates used physics tools to develop methods that are now the foundation of machine learning, which is revolutionizing various fields. The Nobel Prize in Physics is highly prestigious and has been awarded since 1901. Past winners include scientific giants like Albert Einstein. Physics often receives a lot of attention with the Nobel Prizes. Last year’s prize was for creating ultra-short pulses of light. This year’s second Nobel Prize was awarded to scientists for their discovery of microRNA.