The Nobel Prize in Physics will be awarded this year to two researchers from the United States and Canada for the development of tools in machine learning and artificial neural networks. John Joseph Hopfield from Princeton University and Geoffrey Everest Hinton from the University of Toronto will receive the prize for developing computational tools that mimic the workings of the nervous system. Imitating the human brain The first modern computer, described by John von Neumann in 1945, was inspired by two ideas: the concept of an imaginary universal machine – a system capable of performing any computable task – introduced in 1936 by Alan Turing, who is often considered the father of computers and artificial intelligence.
The second idea was presented in a 1943 paper by neuroscientist Warren McCulloch and logician Walter Pitts, where they presented a mathematical model describing the function of neurons in the human brain, representing neurons as logical gates. By connecting these gates in various configurations, it becomes possible to compute virtually anything and even create systems with memory. 5 View gallery Pioneers in the field of artificial intelligence.
Geoffrey Everest Hinton (right) and John Joseph Hopfield ( Photo: Nobel Prize Committee ) The path toward creating such memory systems and ultimately developing artificial intelligence was paved by the ideas of psychologist Donald Hebb. In 1949, Hebb proposed a theory explaining how learning occurs in the brain. Acc.