Celebrating the fusion of scientific achievement and cultural impact, the 11th annual Breakthrough Prize recently honored pioneering researchers alongside Hollywood icons in a star-studded ceremony in Santa Monica.
Dubbed the “Oscars of Science,” the Breakthrough Prize continues to honor the world’s top minds in scientific research, celebrating trailblazing discoveries that push human boundaries in edge science and disruptive technologies.
The April 5 ceremony in Santa Monica, California, marked the 11th annual Breakthrough Prize awards and featured a mix of leading scientists, CEOs, and Hollywood elite. Notable attendees included Leonardo DiCaprio, Jodie Foster, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. Also in attendance was Grammy Award-winning artist Katy Perry, who is set to lift off on April 14 aboard the Blue Origin NS-31 mission. She will join an all-female crew on the 11th crewed flight of the New Shepard program.
Like the Breakthrough Prize—which celebrates groundbreaking scientific innovation—popular media outlets such as ELLE also spotlighted the historic nature of this mission: it marks the first all-female space crew since Russian astronaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo flight in 1963. The Breakthrough Prize and Blue Origin’s milestone reflect how culture and science are increasingly intertwined.
Founded in 2013 by Silicon Valley leaders including Zuckerberg (CEO and founder of Meta), Priscilla Chan (Co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative), Sergey Brin (co-founder of Google), Anne Wojcicki (former CEO of 23andMe), and Yuri and Julia Milner (venture capitalist and philanthropist), the Breakthrough Prize aims to celebrate scientists’ achievements and inspire future generations to pursue careers in science. With individual awards of $3 million, they are among the most lucrative prizes in the field and span three categories: Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics, and Mathematics.
“This year’s Breakthrough Prize laureates have made amazing strides – including treatments for major diseases affecting millions of people worldwide – showing once again the transformative power of curiosity-driven basic science,” says Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in a press release.
“The questions these laureates are asking are among the deepest questions there are – about the workings of life, the nature of the Universe, and the abstract landscapes of mathematics. It’s inspiring to see scientists seeking and finding answers to these questions,” adds Yuri Milner.
Honoring Scientific Pioneers
This year’s Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics was awarded collectively to 13,508 physicists across four CERN collaborations: ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, and LHCb. Their innovative work at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) explored the Higgs boson, also known as the “God Particle.” The Breakthrough Prize committee recognized the researchers for precisely measuring the Higgs boson—which helps explain why matter has mass—and for probing how nature behaves under the most extreme conditions imaginable.
The prize money will support grants for doctoral students conducting CERN-related research through the CERN & Society Foundation.
In Life Sciences, awards were presented to three groups:
- Weight-Loss Drugs: Daniel J. Drucker, Joel Habener, Jens Juul Holst, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, and Svetlana Mojsov were recognized for discovering the GLP-1 hormone, instrumental in the development of Ozempic and Wegovy for diabetes and obesity treatment.
- Multiple Sclerosis Breakthroughs: Alberto Ascherio and Stephen L. Hauser were honored for identifying the Epstein-Barr virus as the primary cause of multiple sclerosis (MS) and for developing targeted B-cell therapies for MS patients.
- Gene Editing: David R. Liu received the award for developing base and prime editing technologies, which allow scientists to rewrite DNA without cutting the double helix—a breakthrough with vast potential in genetic medicine.
“The breakthroughs being recognized this year are extraordinary – including, in my own field, amazing gene-editing technologies that are already having a big impact. I’m excited to learn more about the scientists’ ideas across all the fields,” notes Anne Wojcicki.
In Mathematics, Dennis Gaitsgory received the prize for his decades-long work on the geometric Langlands program. His contributions have provided deep insights into derived algebraic geometry and advanced the broader Langlands framework.
To foster future innovation in science, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation also awarded six New Horizons Prizes ($100,000 each) to emerging physicists and mathematicians and three Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prizes ($50,000 each) to outstanding women mathematicians completing their Ph.D.s.
Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on The Debrief’s YouTube Channel on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton and at chrissynewton.com.