Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

AI Pioneers Win Nobel Prizes for Physics and Chemistry

10/12/2024

Artificial intelligence, once the realm of science fiction, claimed its place at the pinnacle of scientific achievement Monday in Sweden.

In a historic ceremony at Stockholm's iconic Konserthuset, John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton received the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work on neural networks - systems that mimic the brain's architecture and form the bedrock of modern AI.

Meanwhile, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper accepted the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Google DeepMind's AlphaFold, a system that solved biology's impossible problem: predicting the structure of proteins, a feat with profound implications for medicine and biotechnology.

These achievements go beyond academic prestige. They mark the start of an era where GPU-powered AI systems tackle problems once deemed unsolvable, revolutionizing multitrillion-dollar industries from healthcare to finance.

Hopfield's Legacy and the Foundations of Neural Networks In the 1980s, Hopfield, a physicist with a knack for asking big questions, brought a new perspective to neural networks.

He introduced energy landscapes - borrowed from physics - to explain how neural networks solve problems by finding stable, low-energy states. His ideas, abstract yet elegant, laid the foundation for AI by showing how complex systems optimize themselves.

Fast forward to the early 2000s, when Geoffrey Hinton - a British cognitive psychologist with a penchant for radical ideas - picked up the baton. Hinton believed neural networks could revolutionize AI, but training these systems required enormous computational power.

In 1983, Hinton and Sejnowski built on Hopfield's work and invented the Boltzmann Machine which used stochastic binary neurons to jump out of local minima. They discovered an elegant and very simple learning procedure based on statistical mechanics which was an alternative to backpropagation.

In 2006 a simplified version of this learning procedure proved to be very effective at initializing deep neural networks before training them with backpropagation. However, training these systems still required enormous computational power.

AlphaFold: Biology's AI Revolution A decade after AlexNet, AI moved to biology. Hassabis and Jumper led the development of AlphaFold to solve a problem that had stumped scientists for years: predicting the shape of proteins.

Proteins are life's building blocks. Their shapes determine what they can do. Understanding these shapes is the key to fighting diseases and developing new medicines. But finding them was slow, costly and unreliable.

AlphaFold changed that. It used Hopfield's ideas and Hinton's networks to predict protein shapes with stunning accuracy. Powered by GPUs, it mapped almost every known protein. Now, scientists use AlphaFold to fight drug resistance, make better antibiotics and treat diseases once thought to be incurable.

What was once biology's Gordian knot has been untangled - by AI.

The GPU Factor: Enabling AI's Potential GPUs, the indispensable engines of modern AI, are at the heart of these achievements. Originally designed to make video games look good, GPUs were perfect for the massive parallel processing demands of neural networks.

NVIDIA GPUs, in particular, became the engine driving breakthroughs like AlexNet and AlphaFold. Their ability to process vast datasets with extraordinary speed allowed AI to tackle problems on a scale and complexity never before possible.

Redefining Science and Industry The Nobel-winning breakthroughs of 2024 aren't just rewriting textbooks - they're optimizing global supply chains, accelerating drug development and helping farmers adapt to changing climates.

Hopfield's energy-based optimization principles now inform AI-powered logistics systems. Hinton's architectures underpin self-driving cars and language models like ChatGPT. AlphaFold's success is inspiring AI-driven approaches to climate modeling, sustainable agriculture and even materials science.

The recognition of AI in physics and chemistry signals a shift in how we think about science. These tools are no longer confined to the digital realm. They're reshaping the physical and biological worlds.
LINK: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-nobel-physics-chemistry/...
See more stories from nvidia

North America Stories

24/04/2026

Dalet Takes Home The Best in Show Award for Dalia at 2026 NAB

Dalet Takes Home The Best in Show Award for Dalia at 2026 NAB Brie Clayton April 23, 2026 0 Comments Media-aware agentic AI wins big for real-world ef...

24/04/2026

Calrec and Grass Valley Unlock Exceptional Choice and Flexibility for Broadcasters with ImPulseV and AMPP Integration

Calrec and Grass Valley Unlock Exceptional Choice and Flexibility for Broadcaste...

24/04/2026

Bitfocus Buttons wins NAB Show Product of the Year Award

Bitfocus Buttons wins NAB Show Product of the Year Award Brie Clayton April 24, 2026 0 Comments Recognition for incredible advances in broadcast and e...

24/04/2026

NAB Show Reports More Than 58,000 Registered Attendees for 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

24/04/2026

Dalet Takes Home The Best in Show Award for Dalia at 2026...

Media-aware agentic AI wins big for real-world efficiencies and time to value Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, to...

24/04/2026

Mediagenix Sweeps 2026 NAB Awards With Wins for Product o...

Mediagenix wins for its Scheduling Optimization capabilities that help broadcasters and FAST operators move beyond traditional scheduling automation toward cont...

24/04/2026

Setplex Secures Top Honors with NAB Show Project of the Y...

Setplex today announced that it has taken home the NAB Show Project of the Year Award in the Distribution category for its innovative deployment with UVOtv. Dur...

24/04/2026

farmerswife and Cirkus are Exhibiting MPTS 2026

Media and post-production teams are invited to experience next-level resource planning, project management, and connected media workflows at Stand K59 in The Gr...

23/04/2026

NAB Honors Rob Lowe and John Tesh With Hall of Fame Induction

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/04/2026

Roku, Samsung Dominate CTV Platform Market in U.S.

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/04/2026

G&D and VuWall Strengthen International Sales Team

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/04/2026

The 2026 NAB Show Reports More than 58,000 Attendees

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/04/2026

SmallHD Monitor Overlay License for Hi-5 and Hi-5 SX deli...

Partnership between ARRI and SmallHD brings new Hi-5 license Configurable monitor overlays adapt to individual working styles Supported by SmallHD monitors ru...

23/04/2026

Jeff Cronenweth ASC Sheds Light on Tron Ares with Astera

Lighting Master Cronenweth ASC brings a unique look to each grid world with the help of Astera Jeff Cronenweth on the set of Disney's TRON: ARES. Photo by...

23/04/2026

ZEISS Supreme Primes Shine in Star-Driven Short Dr Sam

DP Chloe Smolkin ( The Late Show, Kidz Bop ) joins director Danielle Beckmann and writer/actor Raji Ahsan behind the camera for the heartfelt short comedy Dr...

23/04/2026

OpenAI's New GPT-5.5 Powers Codex on NVIDIA Infrastructure - and NVIDIA Is Already Putting It to Work

AI agents have revolutionized developer workflows, and their next frontier is kn...

23/04/2026

Tag, You're It: GeForce NOW Levels Up Game Discovery With Xbox Game Pass and Ubisoft+ Labels

GeForce NOW is doubling down on what matters most: gamers. This week's upgra...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Solid State Logics Berny Carpenter on Expanding System T With Virtual DSP, Cloud Workflows

Solid State Logic is advancing its System T platform with a stronger focus on IP...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Dolbys Giles Baker on the Growth of Dolby OptiView, Immersive Vision and Audio for Live Sports

From immersive audio to live streaming, Dolby Laboratories is focused on the fut...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Blackmagic Design's Bob Caniglia on Implementing Cinematic Looks in Live Broadcasts

Shallow depth-of-field cameras have taken the industry by storm. Its debut a han...

22/04/2026

NAB 2026: Eastern Kentucky University deploys campus-wide ST 2110 network with Riedel and Bridge Digital

Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) announced that Eastern Kentucky University (...

22/04/2026

SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2026, Day 4: Live Reports From the Show Floor in Vegas

The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...

22/04/2026

NAB 2026: Blackmagic Design Announces URSA Cine 12K LF 100G

Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine 12K LF 100G, a new model in the URSA Cine family adding 100G Ethernet for SMPTE 2110 live production output up to ...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: NEPs Martin Stewart Talks 40 Years, the NEP Platform, and Scaling for FIFA World Cup

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, NEP is leaning into hybrid production with the...

22/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: NEPs Dan Murphy on NEP Platform, TFC, and the Shift to Software-Defined Workflows

NEP VP, Platform Dan Murphy sits down at the 2026 NAB Show to unpack what NEP P...

22/04/2026

The Frequency That Decides the Fight

Why Low Band Electronic Warfare Matters...

22/04/2026

Polish national football team play-off games top monthly programme list

The nation unites around football team's World Cup dream Warsaw, Poland, 20.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and media intell...

22/04/2026

Nielsen and the Polish Organisation of Advertisers announce strategic partnership to elevate marketing standards in Poland

Warsaw, Poland, 22.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data...

22/04/2026

Nielsen helps New Zealand brands expand internationally with greater clarity and confidence

New market intelligence offering gives businesses a clearer view of local consum...

22/04/2026

Glookast Unveils New UX, YouTube and Social Media Connectors, Premiere Panel, Cinnafilm Tachyon Plugin and More at NAB

Glookast Unveils New UX, YouTube and Social Media Connectors, Premiere Panel, Ci...

22/04/2026

Lightcraft Technology to Preview Spark Story at NAB 2026 with Interactive Previs Experience

Lightcraft Technology to Preview Spark Story at NAB 2026 with Interactive Previs...

22/04/2026

Bolin Demos New PTZ Cameras and Controller at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

Anchor Audio Launches Beacon 3

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

FCC Grants WSWB TV License Transfer to Sinclair

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

Telemundo Puerto Rico Streaming Channel Launches On Prime Video

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

Chyron Announces PRIME Translate

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

TV Tech Announces Winners of Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/04/2026

This Earth Day, Discover the Sustainable Productions Behind Our Films and Series

Back to All News This Earth Day, Discover the Sustainable Productions Behind Our Films and Series Emma Stewart, Ph.D. Netflix Sustainability Officer Enterta...

22/04/2026

NVIDIA and Google Cloud Collaborate to Advance Agentic and Physical AI

NVIDIA and Google Cloud have collaborated for more than a decade, co engineering a full stack AI platform that spans every technology layer - from performance o...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: BitFires Colin Bonzey on Growing Spark Platform for Live Cloud-Based Productions

Cloud-based production isnt going anywhere, and BitFire is doubling down by prov...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: AWSs Jason Dvorkin, Regina Rossi on Driving Innovation With Al-Based Workflows

The topic of artificial intelligence has a stranglehold on the sports-video-prod...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: T-Mobile for Business' Jason Schnellbacher on Enhancing 5G for Sports Fans, Broadcasters

5G is still a hot topic in live event production, and this workflow continues to...

21/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Appears Ed McGivern on Fox Sports Deal, New XM Platform, and VX Software Debut

At the 2026 NAB Show, Ed McGivern, GM and President of Appear US, discusses the ...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Studio Network Solutions launches on-premise AI suite for media production workflows

Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has announced an on-premise AI suite designed for...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Suite Studios integrates file-streaming technology into Frame.io Drive

Suite Studios has integrated its file-streaming technology into the newly announced Frame.io Drive, a desktop application from Adobe company Frame.io. The colla...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Net Insight integrates InSync FrameFormer into Nimbra Edge for media processing

Net Insight has integrated InSync Technology's FrameFormer into the Nimbra E...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Fox Sports selects Appear X Platform for live production infrastructure

Fox Sports has selected Appear as a technology partner to support the next phase...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Diversified appoints Tyler Affolter as Chief Revenue Officer

Diversified has appointed Tyler Affolter as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to lead the company's commercial organisation. The appointment follows the firm'...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: Layercake integrates Bitmovin into Streamcake platform for end-to-end media orchestration

Layercake has formalised the integration of Bitmovin's video streaming infra...

21/04/2026

NAB 2026: International Judo Federation extends global content distribution partnership with SES

The International Judo Federation (IJF) has extended its distribution partnershi...