(photo by Lisa Lightbourn)
Geoffrey Hinton wins 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics
Published: October 8, 2024
Geoffrey Hinton, a University Professor Emeritus of computer science at the University of Toronto, has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Awarded since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Physics is one of five prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel and honours individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field.
Hinton, widely regarded as the “godfather of AI,” shared the prize with John J. Hopfield of Princeton University for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.
Hinton was recognized for his use of the Hopfield network – a neural network invented by his co-laureate – as the foundation for a new network called the Boltzmann machine that can learn to recognize elements within a given type of data.
“On behalf of the University of Toronto, I am absolutely delighted to congratulate University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton on receiving the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics,” said U of T President Meric Gertler. “The U of T community is immensely proud of his historic accomplishment.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lauded Hinton for being both “a stalwart in the field” of AI and an “outspoken advocate” for its responsible use. “Canada is at the forefront of AI technology thanks to trailblazers like Dr. Hinton,” Trudeau said in a statement. “His curiosity for discovery and contributions to innovation will inspire generations to come. On behalf of all Canadians, I congratulate him on his remarkable achievement.”
Hinton, who joined U of T as a professor of computer science in 1987, said he was "flabbergasted" at the accolade. “I had no expectations of this,” said Hinton, who is also chief scientific adviser at the Vector Institute, which he co-founded. “I am extremely surprised and I'm honoured to be included.”
Hinton's Nobel Prize is the latest in a long list of honours which includes the Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award in 2019 – widely considered “the Nobel Prize of computing” – alongside collaborators Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio, election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a Royal Medal from the Royal Society, Companion of the Order of Canada and Fellow of the Royal Societies of Canada and London.
