Nobel winner Geoffrey Hinton has donated half of winnings to Indigenous water charity

By Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press on October 28, 2024.

TORONTO – Canada’s newest Nobel Prize recipient says he’s donated half his share of the award to a charity training Indigenous communities in how to develop and provide access to safe water systems.

The charity given a portion of Geoffrey Hinton’s winnings is Water First, an organization based in Creemore, Ont.

Hinton doesn’t have a history with the organization but says he felt compelled to make a sizeable donation because he hears land acknowledgements at many events.

While he thinks it’s good to remind people who first lived on the land they are on, he says such actions don’t do much to stop Indigenous kids, for example, from getting diarrhea from unsafe water sources.

The British-Canadian computer scientist often called the godfather of AI won the Nobel for physics with Princeton University researcher John Hopfield earlier this month.

The prize came with 11 million Swedish kronor (about C$1.45 million) the duo will split. Hinton previously said some of his winnings will also be directed to an organization that provides jobs to neurodiverse young adults.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024.

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