"The Hopfeld network utilises physics that describes a material’s characteristics due to its atomic spin – a property that makes each atom a tiny magnet. The network as a whole is described in a manner equivalent to the energy in the spin system found in physics, and is trained by fnding values for the connections between the nodes so that the saved images have low energy"
"Hinton used tools from statistical physics, the science of systems built from many similar components."
Given the line of reasoning this has now opened up Alan Turing should be awarded one posthumously in every field.
(1) Newton would be a strong contender on a "for all time" basis, but even he would've probably needed to share it with Leibniz, which would have driven him absolutely ~b o n k e r s~, like wet hornet in a hot outhouse mad, LOL.
For Physics?
If I was the awardee I'd consider declining just out of respect to the field.