The Breakthrough Prize

The Breakthrough Prizes honor important, primarily recent, achievements in the categories of Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics.

The Prizes were founded by Silicon Valley innovators Sergey Brin (Google) and Anne Wojcicki (23andMe), Jack Ma (Alibaba) and Cathy Zhang, Yuri Milner (DST Global) and Julia Milner, and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Priscilla Chan. For the past three years, the Breakthrough awards have been honoring those at the forefront of the fundamental physics, life sciences and mathematics fields, while also aiming to inspire innovators in these fields for the future. 

Every year, committees of prior laureates choose the winners from candidates nominated in a process that is online and open to the public. Laureates receive $3 million each in prize money. The new Laureates are announced during a televised award gala designed to celebrate their achievements and inspire the next generation of scientists. The gala is followed each year by a day of academic symposia and panel discussions.

In November 2015, UC Berkeley, UCSF and Stanford University will be hosting the academic symposia and panel discussions on the UC Berkeley campus. Program information is available at breakthroughprize.berkeley.edu/symposium.

Learn more about the Breakthrough Prize