Princeton's John Hopfield receives Nobel Prize in Physics

Princeton University professor John Hopfield has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics fundamental discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.”

He shares the award with Geoffrey E. Hinton of the University of Toronto.

“This year's two Nobel Prize winners in physics have used tools from physics to develop methods that form the basis of today's powerful machine learning,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the awards ceremony today.

“John Hopfield created associative memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data,” the academy said. “Geoffrey Hinton invented a method that can independently find properties in data and perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in images.”

The prize amount is 11 million Swedish kroner, or about $1 million, to be shared between the prize winners.

The news of the award reached Hopfield in a thatched-roof house where he lives in England. “My wife and I went out to get our flu shot and stopped to get coffee on the way home,” he said. When they returned, they found “a stack of emails” that he described as “amazing” and “heartwarming.”

Hopfield is the Howard A. Prior Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Molecular Biology. He holds associate faculty member status in physics and neuroscience.

The award winner joins the ranks other Princeton faculty and alumni who have won Nobel Prizes.

Media representatives: If you have an inquiry about the Nobel Prize winner, please send an email to [email protected] with the words “Nobel Prize” in the subject line. An iThe Magician of Hopfield and a CV are available for media use. Check the University homepage throughout the day for updates.

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