Google AI scientists won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded today to three scientists – two of whom are prominent figures at Google DeepMind – for their work on proteins, which the Nobel Prize committee describes as “the chemical tools of life”.

DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and DeepMind senior scientist John Jumper received the award for creating the open-source AlphaFold2 AI model for calculating the structure of human proteins. “Thanks to it, they managed to predict the structure of virtually all 200 million proteins identified by researchers” – Nobel Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences – wrote in its announcement.

David Baker, who shares the award with Hassabis and Jumper, was awarded for “computational protein design.” The Nobel committee noted that Baker succeeded in designing a modern protein “unlike any other” in 2003, and has since developed modern proteins for pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and diminutive sensors over the past two decades.

“One of the discoveries highlighted this year concerns the construction of spectacular proteins. The second is about fulfilling a 50-year-old dream: predicting the structures of proteins based on their amino acid sequences,” said the chairman of the Nobel Chemistry Committee, Heiner Linke. “Both of these discoveries open up enormous possibilities.”

According to the Nobel Committee, AlphaFold2’s scientific applications include helping scientists understand antibiotic resistance and developing enzymes that break down plastics. “Work that once took years now takes just a few minutes, thanks to this year’s chemistry laureates,” said the Nobel Committee on X.

“If there were a Nobel Prize in computer science, our work would be much more relevant here,” Hinton said in post-award interview with New York Times. “But there isn’t one.” Praised for the comment by TimesHinton added that it was “also a tip.”