Breakthrough Prize Marks 5th Anniversary Celebrating Top Achievements In Science And Awards More Than $25 Million In Prizes At Gala Ceremony In Silicon Valley

2017 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Awarded to Stephen J. Elledge, Harry F. Noller, Roeland Nusse, Yoshinori Ohsumi, and Huda Yahya Zoghbi

2017 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics Awarded to Joseph Polchinski,
Andrew Strominger, and Cumrun Vafa

2017 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics Awarded to Jean Bourgain

New Horizons in Physics Prize awarded to Asimina Arvanitaki, Peter W. Graham, and
Surjeet Rajendran; Simone Giombi and Xi Yin; and Frans Pretorius

New Horizons in Mathematics Prize awarded to Mohammad Abouzaid, Hugo Duminil-Copin, and Benjamin Elias and Geordie Williamson

Second Annual, International Breakthrough Junior Challenge Won by Female Students
Antonella Masini, 18 (Peru) and Deanna See, 17 (Singapore)

2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, awarded in May to founders and team members of LIGO, awarded to Kip Thorne, Rainer Weiss and family of Ronald Drever

Laureates to be honored at glittering awards gala hosted by Morgan Freeman, with live performance by Alicia Keys and presentations from Daniel Ek (CEO of Spotify), Jeremy Irons, Mark and Scott Kelly, Hiroshi Mikitani (CEO of Rakuten), Sienna Miller, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vin Diesel, Kevin Durant, Dev Patel, Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google), Alex Rodriguez, Will.i.am, Susan Wojcicki (CEO of YouTube) and the founders of the Breakthrough Prize

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Breakthrough Prize and founders Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, tonight announced the recipients of the 2017 Breakthrough Prizes, marking the organization's fifth anniversary recognizing top achievements in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics. A combined total of $25 million was awarded at the gala ceremony in Silicon Valley, hosted by Morgan Freeman. Each of the Breakthrough Prizes is worth $3 million, the largest individual monetary prize in science.

This year, a total of seven of these prizes were awarded to nine individuals, along with a $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, which was split between three founders and more than a thousand members of the LIGO team. In addition, three $100,000 New Horizons in Physics Prizes were awarded to six early-career physicists, and a further three $100,000 New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes were awarded to four young mathematicians. And this year there were two winners of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, each receiving up to $400,000 in educational prizes for them, their teacher and their school.