Learning from life, Enabling artificial intelligence: Scientific historical insights from the Nobel Prize in physics

Abstract

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics recognized John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their transformative contributions to artificial neural networks, sparking widespread debate within the academic community. Why was a physics prize awarded to researchers in artificial intelligence (AI)? How have their achievements influenced the historical trajectory of AI? This article adopts a history-of science perspective to trace the evolution of neural network technologies, from Hopfield networks to the Boltzmann machine. It examines the interdisciplinary nexus between physics and AI, highlighting its broader implications for future scientific advancements