Comment by mrmoxon on Complex systems research as a field (and its relevance to AI Alignment) · 2024-09-03T01:01:31.874Z · LW · GW

for example, it's not that rare for a researcher to win a Nobel prize in two fields

 

This statement is actually quite inaccurate.  Only two individuals have won Nobel Prizes in two different scientific disciplines (pre 2024), and to put this in perspective:

• Physics: 225 laureates
• Chemistry: 194 laureates
• Physiology or Medicine: 227 laureates
• Economic Sciences: 93 laureates

This totals 739 Nobel Prizes awarded in scientific categories (excluding Peace and Literature). With only two cases of cross-disciplinary laureateship, the occurrence rate is approximately 0.27% (2/739). This is indeed extremely rare.