This is probably the first time I actually recognize the name of one of the recipients: Kip Thorne. I learned about him when I read about the movie Interstellar, for which he was an executive producer. Then when reading up on him, it turns out he's been involved with a bunch of things I've read about or seen in the past.
When I saw the announcement, I was unreasonably happy for a person I've never known nor met. Funny what a little recognition can do.
I believe we're in a small golden age for science fiction. There were completely wack aspects to Interstellar but it's still the most "science-y" science-fiction movie to make a mainstream impact since... 2001: A Space Odyssey, basically. I was so happy. I'd say that an executive producer and scientific advisor of the movie winning a nobel prize in physics is a sign that this is about as serious as a Hollywood-budget science fiction movie can get. It's great. Part of me wants to make a sarcastic joke about corn fields and bookshelves, now, but fuck it, those shots of the wormhole alone more than make up for it!
I think it's a stretch by far to call either Interstellar or 2001: A Space Odyssey most scientifically accurate movie. Using a correct simulation of black hole is one thing, but this alone does not make necessarily make it very accurate. This is not the first time I am seeing this, and I don't know it pops up everywhere. There are parts in the movies which make me cringe, like bending gravity by hands inside a black hole, and giving some strange bar code. Or the highly incorrect approximation of probability from TARS. If I were to select an interesting scientifically accurate sci-fi movie, I would select martian or primer. The later is more consistent than what is evident on watching it for first time.
I think he was talking more about "mainstream impact" than accuracy in his comment. How many average Joes that maybe didn't care for science and space are now interested because of movies like this? And for ones that already liked science and space it was awesome to see an abstract thought (more dimensions) put into play in Interstellar, that maybe got them even more interested in making contributions towards teams like LIGO? Although there was a lot of silly things in the movie I would like to think movies like those are pretty inspiring nonetheless.
When I saw the announcement, I was unreasonably happy for a person I've never known nor met. Funny what a little recognition can do.