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Breakthrough Prize Awarded $22 Million In Science Prizes
The Prizes were Presented at Live Ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 10/9c on National Geographic Channel
The 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics Awarded to Ian Agol; The 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Awarded to Five Individual Recipients: Edward S. Boyden, Karl Deisseroth, John Hardy, Helen Hobbs, and Svante Pääbo; The 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics Awarded to Seven Leaders and 1370 Members of Five Experiments Investigating Neutrino Oscillation: Daya Bay (China); KamLAND (Japan); K2K / T2K (Japan); Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (Canada); and Super-Kamiokande (Japan)
Three 2016 New Horizons in Physics Prizes Presented to B. Andrei Bernevig, Liang Fu, Xiao-Liang Qi; Raphael Flauger, Leonardo Senatore; and Yuji Tachikawa Two 2016 New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes Awarded to Larry Guth and André Arroja Neves Inaugural Breakthrough Junior Challenge Winner is Ryan Chester
Laureates honored at glittering awards gala hosted by Seth MacFarlane, with live performance by Pharrell Williams, and presenters Russell Crowe, Hilary Swank, Lily Collins, and Kumail Nanjiani & Martin Starr of HBO’s Silicon Valley
(San Francisco - November 8, 2015) – The Breakthrough Prize and its founders Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, Jack Ma and Cathy Zhang, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, tonight announced the recipients of the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics. A combined total of $21.9 million was awarded at the 3rd Annual Breakthrough Prize Awards Ceremony in Silicon Valley.
“By challenging conventional thinking and expanding knowledge over the long term, scientists can solve the biggest problems of our time,” said Mark Zuckerberg. “The Breakthrough Prize honors achievements in science and math so we can encourage more pioneering research and celebrate scientists as the heroes they truly are.”
The 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (five prizes, $3 million each) was presented to: Edward S. Boyden (MIT); Karl Deisseroth (Stanford University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute); John Hardy (University College London); Helen Hobbs (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Howard Hughes Medical Institute); and Svante Pääbo (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology).
The 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics ($3 million) was awarded to five experiments investigating neutrino oscillation and will be shared equally among all five. The teams include Daya Bay (China); KamLAND (Japan); K2K / T2K (Japan); Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (Canada); and Super-Kamiokande (Japan). The award was accepted by team leaders Yifang Wang and Kam-Biu Luk (Daya Bay); Atsuto Suzuki (KamLAND); Koichiro Nishikawa (K2K / T2K); Arthur B. McDonald (Sudbury Neutrino Observatory); and Takaaki Kajita and Yoichiro Suzuki (Super-Kamiokande). In total, the five teams are comprised of more than 1,300 individual physicists, and all members will share in the recognition for their work. Additional information and the full list of the prize-winning members of the experiments are available at www.BreakthroughPrize.org.
The 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics ($3 million) was presented to Ian Agol (University of California at Berkeley and Institute for Advanced Study).
“Breakthrough Prize laureates are making fundamental discoveries about the universe, life and the mind,” Yuri Milner said. “These fields of investigation are advancing at an exponential pace, yet the biggest questions remain to be answered.”
Laureates took to the stage at the 3rd Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony, an exclusive gala co-hosted by founders Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, Jack Ma and Cathy Zhang, Yuri and Julia Milner, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan and Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter. Seth MacFarlane hosted the show, which featured a performance by Pharrell Williams, and appearances by celebrity presenters Russell Crowe, Hilary Swank, Lily Collins, and Kumail Nanjiani and Martin Starr of HBO’s Silicon Valley. The theme of the evening was Life in the Universe, and the highlights included a video link-up to astronaut Scott Kelly aboard the International Space Station.
“This year’s laureates have all opened up ways of understanding ourselves,” said Anne Wojcicki. “In the life sciences, they have pushed forward new ideas about Alzheimer’s, cholesterol, neurological imaging and the origins of our species. And for that we celebrate them.”
New this year, Priscilla Chan and Sal Khan announced the winner of the inaugural Breakthrough Junior Challenge, 18-year-old Ryan Chester, of North Royalton, Ohio. Priscilla Chan and Salman Khan presented Ryan with a $250,000 educational scholarship for his winning video depiction of Einstein’s theory of special relativity. His teacher, Richard Nestoff, was presented an award of $50,000. Ryan’s school, North Royalton High School, received a state-of-the art science lab valued at $100,000. The lab will be designed by and in partnership with the school and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education, and is home to more than 600 researchers and technicians. Ryan’s winning video can be viewed at www.breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org/finalists, and more information on the Breakthrough Junior Challenge can be found at www.breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org.
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge – funded by a grant from Mark Zuckerberg’s fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and a grant from Milner Global Foundation, and presented in partnership with the Khan Academy – invited young people, ages 13-to-18, to create short videos that communicated big ideas in the life sciences, physics and math. The contest received more than 2,000 applications from 86 countries.
“Mark and I are incredibly committed to investing in science,” said Dr. Priscilla Chan. “With the Breakthrough Prize and Junior Challenge, we want to inspire more young people to study science and math, and pursue careers that change all our lives.”
In addition, five New Horizons prizes – a $100,000 award that recognizes the achievements of young scientists – were given to eight early-career physicists and mathematicians.
Three New Horizons in Physics Prizes were awarded to B. Andrei Bernevig (Princeton University), Liang Fu (MIT), and Xiao-Liang Qi (Stanford University) as one prize; Raphael Flauger (University of Texas at Austin) and Leonardo Senatore (Stanford University) as a second prize; and Yuji Tachikawa (University of Tokyo) as a third prize.
Two New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes were awarded to Larry Guth (MIT); and André Arroja Neves (Imperial College London). A third New Horizons in Mathematics Prize, recognizing Peter Scholze of Bonn University, was declined.
“Science is racing forward to meet the demands of the world’s most critical issues,” Jack Ma said. “And we have a duty to support it.”
The ceremony was produced and directed by Emmy Award-winning Don Mischer Productions and broadcast live on National Geographic Channel. There will be an additional airing on FOX Sunday, November 29 at 7-8 p.m. ET/PT.
In continuation of the celebration, a number of select Breakthrough Prize laureates will present at the Breakthrough Prize Symposium, which will be held on Monday, November 9, on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, and co-sponsored by Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco. In addition to academic symposia by leading scientists and Breakthrough Prize laureates, there will be a public program of panel discussions for general audiences, featuring Breakthrough Prize laureates past and present. Breakthrough Prize founder Yuri Milner will host three panels that explore the theme of the symposium, “Big Questions.” More details can be found at breakthroughprize.berkeley.edu/symposium.