John Hopfield

American scientist · United States · On the map · Scientists · Born 1933 · age 93

John Joseph Hopfield is an American physicist and emeritus professor of Princeton University, most widely known for his study of associative neural networks in 1982. He is known for the development of the Hopfield network.

John Hopfield is read about 261 times a day, in 54 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

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A life in dates

2025Queen Elizabeth Prize for EngineeringAward2024“You have to build up from the bottom. If you were doing weather, you would say, well, I want to understand what storms are without going back to interacting air nitrogen molecules.”In their wordsJohn Hopfield on the 2024 Noble Prize in Physics for Machine Learning and Artificial IntelligenceRead the whole statement

Nobel Prize in PhysicsAward2022Boltzmann MedalAward2019Benjamin Franklin MedalAward2012Swartz PrizeAward2009IEEE Frank Rosenblatt AwardAward2002Harold Pender AwardAward2001ICTP Dirac MedalAward1985Max Delbrück Prize in Biological PhysicsAward1969Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter PrizeAward1968Guggenheim FellowshipAward1933Born15 July 1933

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Family

Parents

John Hopfield

Partners

Spouse Cornelia Fuller

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Photos 3

The 1969 ceremony of the Oliver E. Buckley Prize of condensed matter physics. Luis Walter Alvarez (left) congratulates David Gilbert Thomas (middle) and John Hopfield (right).

Geoffrey E. Hinton (left) and Hopfield at 2024 Nobel Week

In their own words 5

John Hopfield

5 statements, newest first

I’m still somewhat in shock
, Own words
You have to build up from the bottom.
, Own words
I don’t think there’s another physicist in the town of Selborne, so that things slowly leak out over the news. But there’s no marching in the street here.
, Own words

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Awards

Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering2025

Nobel Prize in Physics2024

Boltzmann Medal2022

Benjamin Franklin Medal2019

Swartz Prize2012

IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award2009

Harold Pender Award2002

ICTP Dirac Medal2001

Max Delbrück Prize in Biological Physics1985

Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize1969

Guggenheim Fellowship1968

MacArthur Fellows Program

Albert Einstein World Award of Science

Fellow of the American Physical Society

Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

IEEE Neural Networks Pioneer Award

About this person

Before its invention, research in artificial intelligence (AI) was in a decay period or AI winter, Hopfield's work revitalized large-scale interest in this field.

Country

United States