This year’s Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry send a clear message: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just an emerging tool; it’s at the center of major scientific advances. The award-winning work of John Hopfield, Geoffrey Hinton, David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper showcases how AI is changing the game in fields as different as physics, biology, and chemistry, paving the way for its influence to reach into every part of our lives. Their efforts are combining traditional science with modern technology, blurring the lines between different areas of research.
Table of contents
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024
Winners: John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.
Not too long ago, AI in physics seemed like something out of a sci-fi movie. Today, it’s shaping the future. The work of John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton has changed how we handle information and find patterns, making AI systems that do more than just process data – they actually learn, adapt, and understand.
Hopfield and Hinton’s contributions from the 1980s helped AI go beyond mere calculations. They borrowed concepts from physics to give AI a brain of its own. Their research into neural networks was inspired by how the brain’s neurons interact, forming the basis for technologies that now touch almost every part of our lives. It’s this blending of neuroscience and physics that allowed machines to start “thinking” in a way that feels eerily human. Today, when you talk to Siri, use facial recognition to unlock your phone, or rely on AI to recommend the next show to binge-watch, you’re witnessing the evolution of ideas that started decades ago with these two pioneers.
John Hopfield: Teaching Machines to Remember
John Hopfield developed a way for AI to remember and recognize patterns, similar to how the human brain recalls information. His neural network could store and bring back patterns, which became essential for applications we now see everywhere, like image recognition and trend prediction. He used physics to solve problems in AI, taking abstract concepts like energy states and magnetic spins and turning them into practical ways for machines to “learn” from the noisy data of the real world.
Geoffrey Hinton: Godfather of AI
Geoffrey Hinton took Hopfield’s ideas and ran with them, inventing the Boltzmann machine – an AI model that learns on its own by finding patterns in data. But his biggest contribution was making backpropagation popular – a method that helps AI learn from its mistakes, similar to how we improve by fixing errors over time. Thanks to Hinton, we now have AI that powers everything from Google searches to self-driving cars.
Awarding a Physics Nobel Prize for AI work signals a big change. It shows that the old lines between physics, computer science, and psychology are almost gone. AI is no longer just for tech experts; it’s now a fundamental part of modern physics and more. With the ideas of Hopfield and Hinton at its core, AI is not just taking cues from humans anymore – it’s starting to solve the tough problems that have puzzled us for a long time.
Read more about their contributions:
- Popular science background: They used physics to find patterns in information (pdf)
- Scientific background: “For foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks” (pdf)
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024
Winners
- Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper for protein structure prediction
- David Baker for computational protein design
In chemistry, AI’s influence is just as significant. This year’s prize acknowledges how AI solved one of biology’s toughest mysteries: figuring out the shapes of proteins. For decades, predicting how a protein would fold based on its sequence of amino acids was seen as nearly impossible. But David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper used AI to completely change the game.
Demis Hassabis and John Jumper: AlphaFold2 Takes Guesswork Out of Protein Folding
At Google DeepMind, Hassabis and Jumper developed AlphaFold2, an AI system that doesn’t just push the boundaries – it redefines them. Now, we can predict the structure of nearly every known protein, which used to be an incredibly slow and difficult process. With AlphaFold2, researchers can work faster and more accurately, leading to new possibilities in developing drugs, genetic studies, and advanced materials. Since their breakthrough, AlphaFold2 has been used by more than two million people from 190 countries.
This isn’t just a small win for AI, it’s a huge step forward for science itself. AI cracked a 50-year-old puzzle in a fraction of the time it took humans to even come close. This accomplishment isn’t just for biology or chemistry; it’s a message to all sciences. If AI can solve protein folding, what’s next? It seems like no scientific challenge is too big if we let AI help.
David Baker: Designing Proteins from Scratch
David Baker used the power of AI to not only predict protein structures but also create new proteins that don’t exist in nature. His team’s breakthroughs enable the design of novel proteins for uses in medicine, nanotechnology, and more. This isn’t just about modifying biology, it’s about building entirely new life components from the ground up.
By developing computational tools like the Rosetta software, Baker’s team has made it possible for scientists to predict protein shapes and design new molecules by figuring out the right amino acid sequences. His early success with designing Top7 in 2003 proved that we could create proteins with desired properties, opening up opportunities for new treatments and materials.
Read more about their contributions:
- Popular science background: They have revealed proteins’ secrets through computing and artificial intelligence (pdf)
- Scientific background: Computational protein design and protein structure prediction (pdf)
Our Say
The 2024 Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry show that AI is now essential in every area of science. It’s changing what we think is possible in research and beyond. It seems inevitable that AI will soon tackle other big mysteries, like quantum physics, climate science, or even philosophy.
As AI gets smarter and finds more uses, the future of science will be shaped by both human curiosity and AI working together to solve problems and explore new frontiers. We’re at the start of an exciting journey where no question is too difficult and no challenge is too great—as long as AI is on our side.
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