Scientific breakthroughs have allowed humanity to improve many areas of our lives, from technology to medicine to a better understanding of the universe. Yuri Milner and other philanthropists created the Breakthrough Prize to honor the top scientists in the fundamental sciences. Also known as the Oscars of Science, these prizes are given to scientists who have made outstanding contributions in their field of study.
Celebrating and Encouraging Scientific Achievements
The Breakthrough Prize is part of a commitment to supporting scientific discoveries and providing scientists with the means to pursue their research. Yuri Milner co-founded the Prize when he joined the Giving Pledge in 2012 and pledged to give away at least half of his weaslth to scientific causes in his lifetime. Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffet created the Giving Pledge as a way for philanthropists to combine philanthropy and science by investing in problem-solving.
The Breakthrough Prize offers a monetary award of $3 million to each winner in three fields of study. Other prizes are also awarded during this ceremony, including the Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize and the New Horizons in Physics and Mathematics Prizes for early-career researchers.
Fundamental Fields of Study
Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics, and Mathematics are the categories recognized by the Breakthrough Prize. The Fundamental Physics prize goes to physicists who contribute to learning more about the most profound mysteries in our Universe. The Life Sciences prize goes to scientists who make profound advances in our understanding of living systems. The Mathematics prize goes to researchers who make exceptional contributions to our understanding of math.
Yuri Milner’s Dedication to Investing in Science
Yuri Milner, known for investing in technology and being a science philanthropist, joined the Giving Pledge a decade ago and helped guide this philanthropy toward supporting scientific research. Milner and other philanthropists, including Priscilla Chan, Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki, and Mark Zuckerberg, launched the Breakthrough Prizes the same year. Over the years, Yuri Milner has remained passionate about science and the possibilities that scientific research presents when learning more about ourselves and our Universe.
Breakthrough Prize 2022 Winners
From COVID-19 vaccine technology to improved quantum clock accuracy, the 2022 winners of the Breakthrough Prize made outstanding contributions to scientific knowledge. The winners included Takuro Mochizuki from Kyoto University for the Mathematics prize. Mochizuki’s work led to a deeper understanding of irregular singularities and other cases involving the theory of bundles with flat connections over algebraic varieties.
In the Life Sciences field, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman from the University of Pennsylvania received the Breakthrough Prize for engineering modified RNA technology that led to the fast development of COVID-19 vaccines. Other winners in this field included Jeffrey W. Kelly from Scripps Research Institute for researching neurodegenerative and cardiac transthyretin diseases and developing a drug that helps slow the progression of these diseases. Shankar Balasubramanian and David Klenerman from the University of Cambridge, along with Pascal Mayer from Alphanosos, received a prize for an improved and affordable way to determine DNA sequences on a large scale.
In the Fundamental Physics field, winners Hidetoshi Katori from the University of Tokyo and RIKEN and Jun Ye from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado received a Breakthrough Prize for contributing to the optical lattice clock’s invention and development.
Stay Tuned for the 2023 Winners
The Selection Committee will announce the 2023 Breakthrough Prize winners later this fall. Find out who will receive these prizes for their exceptional work in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences, and Mathematics as part of Yuri Milner’s continued Giving Pledge commitment.
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