Oscars Of Science Giving Out $25 Million Dollars For Breakthrough Prize!
On Sunday, during the 2017 Breakthrough Prize at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, the ‘Breakthrough Foundation’ handed more than $25 million to a thousand physicists, life scientists and mathematicians. This will definitely encourage more and more aspiring scientists and mathematicians to do more study and research for future breakthroughs.
According to The New York Times, five molecular biologists won $3 million each for their work in genetics and cell biology, one mathematician and three string theorists split $3 million prize and a physicist who is working on LIGO gravitational wave detector won a $3 million physics prize. There were also high school students who won $400.000 for making science videos. The “Breakthrough Foundation” was founded by Sergey Brin of Google Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe, Jack Ma of Alibaba and his wife, Cathy Zhang, Yuri Milner and his wife Julia Milner, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook with his wife Priscilla Chan. This year, Morgan Freeman, Alicia Keys, and Jeremy Irons were the celebrity stars at the event.
According to News Scientist, five prizes of $3 million each went to research in the life sciences. Among others, Stephen Elledge at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts received a prize for research in how cells sense and respond to damage in their DNA and how that relates to the development and treatment of cancer. Harry Noller at the University of California, Santa Cruz was awarded for discovering how central RNA is in the fundamental machinery of protein synthesis in all cells connecting modern biology of life and explaining how many natural antibiotics work.
According to Engadget, this kind of prices is very important for science. They can inspire and motivate scientists even from young age to start researching and work on their ideas and dreams. A few high school students won $400.000 for scientific videos, and if this event motivates one more young mind, you can call it a success.
