{"id":42111,"date":"2024-10-08T11:55:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T15:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=42111"},"modified":"2024-10-08T12:53:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T16:53:32","slug":"hopfield-nobel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Princeton prof John Hopfield, PhD \u201958, was honored for foundational work in training artificial neural networks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

To the long list of Cornellians who have won the Nobel, add one more: John Hopfield, PhD \u201958, has received the 2024 prize in physics. Hopfield, a professor emeritus<\/a> at Princeton, shares the award with a colleague at the University of Toronto. The two were honored for their work in training artificial neural networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Nobel organization said in the announcement, they \u201chave used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today\u2019s powerful machine learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"John
Denise Applewhite \/ Princeton University<\/figcaption>
Hopfield at Princeton in 1999.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hopfield in particular was cited for inventing an eponymous network<\/a>, based on principles of physics, \u201cthat can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his co-laureate\u2014Geoffrey Hinton, who used Hopfield\u2019s network as the basis for a different one, known as the Boltzmann machine<\/a>\u2014will share the cash award of 11 million Swedish kroner (about $1 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Princeton reported<\/a>, Hopfield learned of the award upon returning to a thatched cottage where he\u2019s staying in England: \u201cMy wife and I went out to get a flu shot and stopped to get a coffee on the way back home,\u201d he said, noting that they came back to find an \u201castounding\u201d and \u201cheartwarming\u201d collection of emailed congratulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopfield learned of the award upon returning to a thatched cottage where he\u2019s staying in England.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An undergraduate alum of Swarthmore, Hopfield studied on the Hill under theoretical physicist Albert Overhauser, who\u2019d go on to win the National Medal of Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was enormously supportive as a listener and critic when I went to see him, but finding direction and resolving technical theoretical issues were entirely my problem,\u201d Hopfield recalled in a 2018 essay reflecting on his life and career. \u201cThe great gift he gave me was ownership of an interesting question, and total responsibility for research and progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Legacy of Laureates<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"A
Caitlin Cook \/ Cornell University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> for a look at some of Cornell’s 50+ Nobelists!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hopfield\u2019s long career has included work at Bell Labs and Caltech, as well as a total of more than a quarter-century on the faculty at Princeton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among his many awards and honors are a MacArthur \u201cgenius\u201d grant, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, and the World Cultural Council\u2019s Albert Einstein World Award of Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among Hopfield’s many awards and honors are a MacArthur \u201cgenius\u201d grant.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo me\u2014growing up with a father and mother both of whom were physicists\u2014physics was not subject matter. The atom, the troposphere, the nucleus, a piece of glass, the washing machine, my bicycle, the phonograph, a magnet\u2014these were all incidentally the subject matter,\u201d Hopfield observed in the 2018 essay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe central idea was that the world is understandable, that you should be able to take anything apart, understand the relationships between its constituents, do experiments, and on that basis be able to develop a quantitative understanding of its behavior. Physics was a point of view that the world around us is, with effort, ingenuity, and adequate resources, understandable in a predictive and reasonably quantitative fashion. Being a physicist is a dedication to a quest for this kind of understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Illustration by Caitlin Cook \/ Cornell University.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published October 8, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Princeton prof John Hopfield, PhD \u201958, was honored for foundational work in training artificial neural networks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":42101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[41899,29610,3863],"footnotes":""},"categories":[229],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-42111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\nDoctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics - Cornellians | Cornell University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Princeton prof John Hopfield, PhD \u201958, was honored for foundational work in training artificial neural networks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics - Cornellians | Cornell University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Princeton prof John Hopfield, PhD \u201958, was honored for foundational work in training artificial neural networks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cornellians | Cornell University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Cornellians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-08T15:55:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-08T16:53:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1278\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"719\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beth Saulnier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@WeCornellians\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WeCornellians\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Beth Saulnier\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beth Saulnier\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32fea64e8c64bb984ed5809675634100\"},\"headline\":\"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-08T15:55:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-08T16:53:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":546,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/\",\"name\":\"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics - Cornellians | Cornell University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-08T15:55:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-08T16:53:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32fea64e8c64bb984ed5809675634100\"},\"description\":\"Princeton prof John Hopfield, PhD \u201958, was honored for foundational work in training artificial neural networks\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg\",\"width\":1278,\"height\":719,\"caption\":\"John Hopfield, PhD \u201958\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/hopfield-nobel\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cornellians | Cornell University\",\"description\":\"Cornell's alumni publication\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32fea64e8c64bb984ed5809675634100\",\"name\":\"Beth Saulnier\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/321760a8edb5153d2c562bbadd61cc5ebb987bda75fb59074266c35cc35beae1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/321760a8edb5153d2c562bbadd61cc5ebb987bda75fb59074266c35cc35beae1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/321760a8edb5153d2c562bbadd61cc5ebb987bda75fb59074266c35cc35beae1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Beth Saulnier\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/author\\\/ess8\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics - Cornellians | Cornell University","description":"Princeton prof John Hopfield, PhD \u201958, was honored for foundational work in training artificial neural networks","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics - Cornellians | Cornell University","og_description":"Princeton prof John Hopfield, PhD \u201958, was honored for foundational work in training artificial neural networks","og_url":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/","og_site_name":"Cornellians | Cornell University","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Cornellians","article_published_time":"2024-10-08T15:55:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-08T16:53:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1278,"height":719,"url":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beth Saulnier","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@WeCornellians","twitter_site":"@WeCornellians","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Beth Saulnier","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/"},"author":{"name":"Beth Saulnier","@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/#\/schema\/person\/32fea64e8c64bb984ed5809675634100"},"headline":"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics","datePublished":"2024-10-08T15:55:21+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-08T16:53:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/"},"wordCount":546,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg","articleSection":["Alumni"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/","url":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/","name":"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics - Cornellians | Cornell University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg","datePublished":"2024-10-08T15:55:21+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-08T16:53:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/#\/schema\/person\/32fea64e8c64bb984ed5809675634100"},"description":"Princeton prof John Hopfield, PhD \u201958, was honored for foundational work in training artificial neural networks","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/JohnHopfield_DA_001_horiz.jpg","width":1278,"height":719,"caption":"John Hopfield, PhD \u201958"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/hopfield-nobel\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Doctoral Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Physics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/","name":"Cornellians | Cornell University","description":"Cornell's alumni publication","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/#\/schema\/person\/32fea64e8c64bb984ed5809675634100","name":"Beth Saulnier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/321760a8edb5153d2c562bbadd61cc5ebb987bda75fb59074266c35cc35beae1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/321760a8edb5153d2c562bbadd61cc5ebb987bda75fb59074266c35cc35beae1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/321760a8edb5153d2c562bbadd61cc5ebb987bda75fb59074266c35cc35beae1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Beth Saulnier"},"url":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/author\/ess8\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET","POST","PUT","PATCH","DELETE"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42111"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42221,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42111\/revisions\/42221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42111"},{"taxonomy":"cornell_year_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cornell_year_post?post=42111"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=42111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}