CSC Ambassador Demis Hassabis awarded Nobel Prize

Our congratulations to CSC Ambassador Demis Hassabis who has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his revolutionary work on proteins. Demis, the Chief Executive and co-founder of Google DeepMind, won the award for creating AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence tool that helps scientists better understand the structure of proteins, allowing them to develop medicines to tackle a range of illnesses. Demis shares the award with his collaborator on the project, Professor John Jumper, and with US-based academic Professor David Baker.

A life-long chess player, Demis is a strong advocate for the benefits of learning the game at a young age, and has regularly credited his own chess playing with developing skills that have supported all aspects of his life. He once said, “Playing chess is what got me thinking about thinking, earned me the money to buy my first computer, and inspired me to code my first AI program. Amazing to reflect on how much chess shaped my life and career.”

Earlier this year, CSC arranged for students at UCL Academy in north London to visit Google DeepMind’s offices for a day of artificial intelligence talks and workshops, as part of our Google DeepMind Chess Pioneers programme. The students listened to a talk by Demis and one got the chance to take him on over the chess board. Demis is a keen supporter of the work of CSC and a regular participant in our ProBiz Cup at the London Chess Classic (pictured above with his partner in the 2023 ProBiz Cup, Gukesh Dommaraju).