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?

Why wait any longer for the one you love?

(Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize for Literature, 2016)

There you go.^†

They Just Wanted to Make a Space Movie. Instead, They Uncovered a Mind-Blowing Cosmic Secret - The Daily Galaxy

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

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

Webb Captures a Cosmic Forest of Ancient Galaxies - PetaPixel

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

My 11 million SEK, Dr Jo.

(Mumbles of assent)

Why does it seem that Quora's "moderators" base their moderations on personal beliefs and views by deleting answers that are only violating their personal feelings?

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

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

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

Who are the IT boys of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation in K-pop?

Whatever.

You can have your cake and eat it too

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

How conservative the Japanese people really is? And the government?

Whatever.

[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.

^† They rationalise their decision thusly:

Why is it common for guys to sleep with 10-20 women then marry a good girl?

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

When he's standing, in front of you

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

Jessie J Diagnosed with ‘Early’ Breast Cancer: ‘I Need to Process It and Talk About It’ - Rolling Stone

[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."

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

"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?"

Will surging sea levels kill the Great Barrier Reef? Ancient coral fossils may hold the answer - The Conversation

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

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.

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?

Moons of Uranus surprise scientists in Hubble study - Phys.org