Breakthrough Prize awards top scientists with $3 million each

The Breakthrough Prize, the largest award in sciences, honored 14 pioneering scientists in the fields of fundamental physics, life sciences, and mathematics with $3 million each. The 2015 Breakthrough Prizes, announced in a press release, were awarded to the following researchers:

· Life Sciences:

C. David Allis – work on regulation of gene expression and chromatin organization, advancing the understanding of diseases ranging from birth defects to cancer

Victor Ambros & Gary Ruvkun – breakthrough work in genetic regulation by microRNAs

Alim Louis Benabid - development of high-frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS), which has revolutionized the treatment of Parkinson’s disease

Jennifer A. Doudna & Emmanuelle Charpentier: path breaking work in bacterial immunity

· Fundamental Physics:

Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, and Adam Riess led a collaboration that unlocked some of the deepest mysteries about the expansion of the universe

· Mathematics:

Simon Donaldson - study of the relation between stability in algebraic geometry and in global differential geometry

Maxim Kontsevich - making a deep impact in a vast variety of mathematical disciplines

Jacob Lurie - work on the foundations of higher category theory and derived algebraic geometry, quantum theories, and elliptic cohomology

Terence Tao - numerous breakthrough contributions to harmonic analysis, combinatorics, partial differential equations and analytic number theory

Richard Taylor - numerous breakthrough results in the theory of automorphic forms

The founders of the award—Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan of Facebook; Sergey Brin of Google; entrepreneur and venture capitalist Yuri Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, one of the founders of the genetics company 23andMe, and Arthur D. Levinson of Apple—envision the award as a way of recognizing scientists as “superheroes” and providing an inspiration for other scientists to pursue their scientific endeavors. Dubbed as “the new Nobels” and “Oscars of science,” the awards were presented to the winners in an exclusive ceremony where scientists mingled with celebrities. 

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Congratulations to all the winners! 

Image: breakthroughprize.org