The 2024 Nobel laureates in Physics used tools from physics to develop the techniques that underpin modern powerful machine learning. John Hopfield has created associative memory that can store and restore images and other types of patterns in data. Jeffrey Hinton has invented a method that can autonomously find properties in data and perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in photographs.
"The work of the laureates has already brought great benefits. In physics, we use artificial neural networks in a variety of fields, for example, to develop new materials with special properties," said Ellen Muns, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics.
The day before, the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded. In 2024, she was awarded for the discovery of microRNAs, a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in gene regulation.
