About Breakthrough Prizes:
- The Breakthrough Prizes honor important, primarily recent, achievements in the fields of Life Sciences (with a specific prize dedicated to work related to Parkinson’s Disease, and Neurodegenerative disorders), fundamental physics, and mathematics.
- These prestigious awards were founded in 2013 by Mark Zuckerberg and his spouse Priscilla Chan, former Google CEO Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki, the founder of the genomics company 23&Me, and tech investors Yuri and Julia Milner.
- Often referred to as the “Oscars of Science”, the mission of the Breakthrough Prizes is to recognize individual accomplishments, celebrate scientists as societal heroes, inspire future generations of scientists, and advocate for "science for the benefit of all" as a global, non-political organization.
- Each Breakthrough Prize carries a monetary award of $3 million, significantly higher than the Nobel Prize.
- Committees of previous laureates choose the winners from candidates nominated in a process that’s online and open to the public.
- They attend a televised award ceremony designed to celebrate their achievements and inspire the next generation of scientists. As part of the ceremony schedule, they also engage in a program of lectures and discussions.
- Those who make fresh discoveries again remain eligible for future Breakthrough Prizes.
