How did a computer scientist such as Geoffrey Hinton manage to win a Nobel Prize in physics when computer science already has its own Nobel Prize equivalent in the Turing Awards?

^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

How do you say "I don't speak Italian yet, but I hope to speak it well one day. It would be a pleasure to learn Italian with you. Would you like to teach me Italian?" in Italian?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

New COVID variant swiftly gains ground in US; concern looms for summer wave - Ars Technica

"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"

When he's standing, in front of you

In awarding prizes, the Nobel Committees often seem only marginally more competent than MTG is at explaining meteorology. And if they can give a literature prize for lyrics like:

Senate expected to pass crypto bill without addressing Trump’s investments - AP News

[Younger voice] "But wait a minute, Ising-Lenz goes back to the 1920's. And didn't Hinton plagiarise rather a lot? He also didn't invent modern backprop, did he, that's Linnainmaa? And Amari preceded Hopfield, too. That's not a good look."

Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:

Whatever.

What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning for one minute?

"Hey guys, AI is pretty big so let's centre our prizes on it this year. We can get some attention, and it's all about advertising, at the end of the day, isn't it?"

(Mumbles of assent)

There you go.^†

Do you have pics of the wife making out with another guy?

"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."

… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

As a Chinese, what disgusts you about the Chinese society today?

They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.

In December 1973, when Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, comedian Tom Lehrer dropped his mic and stamped on it—satire had just died.

"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"

I have BPD. Why do I destroy everyone I love?

"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"

[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"

You can have your cake and eat it too

What kind of person makes you think "how come there are people like that"?

"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"

Whatever.

[The basic structure of artificial neural networks] has close similarities with spin models in statistical physics applied to magnetism or alloy theory. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes research exploiting this connection to make breakthrough methodological advances in the field of ANN.

What nonsense did you hear today in India that made you laugh?