John Hopfield Ph.D. ’58, a professor emeritus in molecular biology at Princeton University, won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, as announced Tuesday morning. He is the 51st Nobel laureate affiliated with Cornell University.
Hopfield, alongside co-laureate Geoffrey Hinton of the University of Toronto, was awarded “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” He developed the Hopfield network, a method of machine learning that saves images and uses them to find patterns and complete distorted images.
According to Princeton, Hopfield is grateful for the opportunity to speak as a Nobel laureate on the important connection between scientific research and life-changing technology. Additionally, he described the hearty congratulations he received through email following the Nobel announcement as “astounding” and “heartwarming."
Angelina Tang is a freshman in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is an Assistant News Editor for the 143rd editorial board. She can be reached at atang@cornellsun.com.
