How did a computer scientist such as Geoffrey Hinton manage to win a Nobel Prize in physics when computer science already has its own Nobel Prize equivalent in the Turing Awards?

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

In awarding prizes, the Nobel Committees often seem only marginally more competent than MTG is at explaining meteorology. And if they can give a literature prize for lyrics like:

"Good idea, but how can we wangle something that says 'Physics'?"

Report: Suns, Kevin Durant’s representatives sorting through multiple trade offers - NBC Sports

"Where can we shoehorn it in? Chemistry is easy 'cos AlphaFold; but what about physics? A bit more challenging, right?"

"Good point, I'm sure we can swing it. And let's tack on Hopfield while we're about it."

A fly on the wall at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Were Dalits prohibited from drinking water from wells in ancient times? Is there any evidence to support this claim?

Whatever.

In December 1973, when Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, comedian Tom Lehrer dropped his mic and stamped on it—satire had just died.

There you go.^†

Novel coating shields iron from rust with 99.6% efficiency - Phys.org

(Mumbles of assent)

When he's standing, in front of you

Fortunately, we are privy to the discussion that led up to this:

Why is Reddit blocked by the Indonesian government?

^* Fibiger got the 1926 Medicine prize for the discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma (Don’t ask).

… then anything is possible. There’s no rule that a Nobel Prize has to make sense.^*

[Older voice] "Mmm. What about Hinton, he's widely regarded? Nobody got fired for buying IBM"

Have your parents ever walked in on you?

"Naah, Linnainmaa is a Finn. Can't give it to a bloody Finnish mathematician. Let's go for drinks. Brännvin anyone?"

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

"Hey guys, AI is pretty big so let's centre our prizes on it this year. We can get some attention, and it's all about advertising, at the end of the day, isn't it?"

Is the water safe to drink in England like here in America or is it necessary to bring tablets to prevent any cholera when in London?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

[Younger voice] "But wait a minute, Ising-Lenz goes back to the 1920's. And didn't Hinton plagiarise rather a lot? He also didn't invent modern backprop, did he, that's Linnainmaa? And Amari preceded Hopfield, too. That's not a good look."

"Didn't he do something with Boltzmann in it? That sounds physics-y. RBMs and stuff, eh?"

Do you think the number of sissies is on the rise?

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

Whatever.

They then move on to selectively provide their own version of history. But hey, it’s OK. They wanted controversy, didn’t they? Whatever.

Why do I feel like I want to suck a big dick after injecting meth?

[The basic structure of artificial neural networks] has close similarities with spin models in statistical physics applied to magnetism or alloy theory. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes research exploiting this connection to make breakthrough methodological advances in the field of ANN.

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

You can have your cake and eat it too

The World's Largest Organism Is Slowly Being Eaten - ScienceAlert