Amazing Facts: AI Wins Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry in 2024
AI Creates History at the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry
Artificial Intelligence has won both the Chemistry and Physics Nobel prizes in the same year for the very first time. This instance has shaken the world and shown us how AI has evolved from functioning as a tool to now an integral part of aiding in technological advancements.
The Physics Nobel: Building the Brain of AI
The Construction of a Computerised AI Brain. AI model Geoffrey Hinton from the University of Toronto and John Hopfield of Princeton collaborated to win the 2024 Physics Nobel Prize. These two scientists designed the frameworks describing the workings of artificial neural networks as a simulacrum to the human mental framework.
In the 1980s Hopfield Introduced the concept of his digital memory as the Hopfield network – a network which rebuilds from data. Imagine half a picture of a person is shown to someone and the person is asked to recreate the picture.
This is what Hinton called the ‘godfather of AI’ network during his award defying research. In a low end motel in California, the world with a very low connectivity router and a schedule for an MRI in a matter of hours was the landscape for Howard in the timely.
The outcome of their research is what makes possible instantaneously in todays world photo recognition, medical scans, automated cars, and AI.
The Chemistry Nobel: Cracking Life’s Puzzle
The logic behind “protein folding” has been termed a mystery in biology.
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David Baker (University of Washington) has engineered entirely “novel” proteins.
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DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis and John Jumper developed AlphaFold: an AI system that predicts the shapes of proteins with almost 90% accuracy.
For many years, predicting the way proteins folded was like tossing a chain into the air and guessing the shape. Proteins are amino acid chains, and the 3D configurations determine the functions in the organism.
With the release of AlphaFold2 in 2020, scientists gained access to 200 million protein structure predictions, a number that previously was mapped to under 1%.
Real-World Impact
The developments of the Nobel winners have affected everyday living:
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There are currently over 2 million researchers in 190 countries who use AlphaFold to create drugs and study diseases.
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Scientists have developed enzymes that digest plastic waste.
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AI engineered proteins have been used to speed the development of several vaccines, in particular the COVID vaccine.
The neural networks that won the Physics Nobel have now enabled breakthroughs in areas like cancer detection and weather forecasting.
From Doubt to Discovery
Doubt and discovery, go hand in hand. Neither was smooth. For neural networks, there were years of disbelievers and ‘AI winters’ which was a Planned withdrawal of neural networks. More than anyone else, Hinton and Hopfield persisted with the work when it was easier to throw in the towel.
In the same breath, protein folding was accompanied with decades of Faliure, which many claimed were unsolvable. Then there was AlphaFold.
The Human Side of AI
The Human Side of AI. The science side of the story has a little more. Hinton, after all, freshly stepped down from Google in the 2023 and has since then, been sending out warning signals about the imminent dangers of uncontrolled AI. Baker, on the other hand, has been saving lives with custom designed molecules and amazing vaccines.
These tales work as a reminder that although AI does tend to give out the major discovery and the driving force, it does have to give human the credit for the endgame.
A Turning Point in Science
The span of AI has shifted from a form which assists to one which leads. The 2024 Nobel Prizes is the newest recognition for this sentiment. Developing intricate body networks, then decoding life’s complex fundamentals. These feats demonstrates how AI is bound to encode unparalleled human creativity to problem-solving.
Can you believe this is just the tip of the iceberg?
References
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Machine learning discoveries honoured with 2024 Nobel Prize for Physics, EMBL. https://www.embl.org/news/science-technology/machine-learning-discoveries-honoured-with-2024-nobel-prize-for-physics/
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Pioneers in artificial intelligence win the Nobel Prize in physics, Associated Press. https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2024/pioneers-in-artificial-intelligence-win-the-nobel-prize-in-physics/
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Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024, NobelPrize.org. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2024/press-release/
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AI and chemistry: Why a Nobel Prize is just the beginning, Chemistry & Industry (Society of Chemical Industry). https://www.soci.org/chemistry-and-industry/cni-data/2024/11/ai-and-chemistry-why-a-nobel-prize-is-just-the-beginning
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Artificial Intelligence awarded two Nobel Prizes for innovations that changed science, Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-024-01345-9
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Geoffrey Hinton wins Nobel Prize in Physics, Defy Gravity Campaign (University of Toronto). https://defygravitycampaign.utoronto.ca/news-and-stories/geoffrey-hinton-nobel-prize/
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Geoffrey Hinton, AI pioneer and figurehead of doomerism, wins the Nobel Prize in Physics, MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/10/08/1105221/geoffrey-hinton-just-won-the-nobel-prize-in-physics-for-his-work-on-machine-learning/
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Press release: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024, NobelPrize.org. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2024/press-release/
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Machine learning cracked the protein-folding problem and won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/machine-learning-cracked-the-protein-folding-problem-and-won-the-2024-nobel-prize-in-chemistry-240937
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All Nobel Prizes 2024, NobelPrize.org. https://www.nobelprize.org/all-nobel-prizes-2024/
