Breakthtough Prize Opens Pubic Nominations For Its 2020 Prizes in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences & Mathematics

The public nomination period for the 2020 Breakthrough Prizes in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics is now open. Prizes will be awarded in fall 2019, during a live, globally televised gala awards ceremony in Silicon Valley. Nominations can be submitted online today through April 1, 2019. While self-nominations are prohibited, anyone may nominate another person. The nomination form and rules are available at breakthroughprize.org.
 
For the eighth year, the Breakthrough Prize, recognized as the world’s largest science prize, will honor top scientists, handing out up to four prizes in Life Sciences, one in Fundamental Physics and one in Mathematics. Each prize comes with a $3 million award. In addition, up to six New Horizons Prizes, each for $100,000, will be presented to promising early career researchers in the fields of Physics and Mathematics.
 
The Breakthrough Prize, dubbed ‘The Oscars of Science,’ hosts a gala awards ceremony to celebrate the laureates’ achievements and to foster broad popular support for scientific endeavors and inspire the next generation of scientists. As part of the schedule, the prizewinners also engage in a program of lectures and discussions at a daylong symposium the day after the ceremony.
 
For the third year, the Breakthrough Prize will partner with two prestigious institutions – the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) and ResearchGate – to directly engage with researchers and the science community.
 
ALLEA brings together 58 academies in more than 40 countries, with members leading scholarly enquiry across all fields of the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
 
ResearchGate accesses a network of 15 million verified scientists from 193 countries and all fields of science and mathematics to connect and share their research – current and past. ResearchGate members are encouraged to nominate their peers for the 2020 prizes in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences, and Mathematics.
 
Selection Committees are composed of previous Breakthrough Prize laureates, who choose the winners from the list of candidates generated during the nomination period.
 
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
 
One 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics ($3 million) will recognize an individual(s) who has made profound contributions to human knowledge. It is open to all physicists – theoretical, mathematical and experimental – working on the deepest mysteries of the Universe. The prize can be shared among any number of scientists. Nominations are also open for the New Horizons in Physics Prize, which will include up to three $100,000 awards for early career researchers who have already produced important work in their fields.
 
The Selection Committee for the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics includes: Nima Arkani-Hamed, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Charles L. Bennett, Lyn Evans, Michael B. Green, Alan Guth, Joseph Incandela, Takaaki Kajita, Charles Kane, Alexei Kitaev, Maxim Kontsevich, Andrei Linde, Arthur McDonald, Juan Maldacena, Eugene Mele, Lyman Page, Saul Perlmutter, Alexander Polyakov, Adam Riess, John H. Schwarz, Nathan Seiberg, Ashoke Sen, David N. Spergel, Andrew Strominger, Kip S. Thorne, Cumrun Vafa, Yifang Wang, Rainer Weiss and Edward Witten.
 
Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
 
Up to four 2020 Breakthrough Prizes in Life Sciences ($3 million each) will be awarded to individuals who have made transformative advances in understanding living systems and extending human life.
 
The Selection Committee for the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences includes: C. David Allis, James P. Allison, Victor Ambros, Angelika Amon, Cornelia I. Bargmann, Alim Louis Benabid, C. Frank Bennett, David Botstein, Edward S. Boyden, Lewis C. Cantley, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Zhijian “James” Chen, Joanne Chory, Don W. Cleveland, Hans Clevers, Karl Deisseroth, Titia de Lange, Mahlon R. DeLong, Jennifer A. Doudna, Stephen J. Elledge, Napoleone Ferrara, Michael N. Hall, John Hardy, Helen Hobbs, Adrian Krainer, Eric S. Lander, Robert Langer, Richard P. Lifton, Kazutoshi Mori, Kim Nasmyth, Harry F. Noller, Roeland Nusse, Yoshinori Ohsumi, Svante Pääbo, Gary Ruvkun, Charles L. Sawyers, Alexander Varshavsky, Bert Vogelstein, Peter Walter, Robert A. Weinberg, Shinya Yamanaka, Xiaowei Zhuang and Huda Zoghbi.
 
Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics
 
One 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics ($3 million) will be awarded to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of mathematics. In addition, up to three $100,000 New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes will be presented to early career mathematicians who have already produced important work in their fields.
 
The Selection Committee for the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics includes: Ian Agol, Jean Bourgain, Simon Donaldson, Maxim Kontsevich, Christopher Hacon, Vincent Lafforgue, Jacob Lurie, James McKernan, Terence Tao and Richard Taylor.
 
Information on the Breakthrough Prizes is available at breakthroughprize.org.
 
About ALLEA
 
ALLEA (All European Academies) is the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities. It was founded in 1994 and brings together almost 58 Academies of Sciences and Learned Societies from over 40 countries in the Council of Europe region. ALLEA is financed by annual dues from its member academies and remains fully independent from political, religious, commercial or ideological interests.
 
Member Academies operate as learned societies, think tanks, or research performing organisations. They are self-governing communities of leaders of scholarly enquiry across all fields of the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities. ALLEA therefore provides access to an unparalleled human resource of intellectual excellence, experience and expertise. Furthermore, its integrative membership structure comprises Academies from both EU and non–EU member states in Europe.
 
ALLEA seeks to contribute to improving the framework conditions under which science and scholarship can excel. Jointly with its Member Academies, ALLEA is in a position to address the full range of structural and policy issues facing Europe in science, research and innovation. In doing so, it is guided by a common understanding of Europe, bound together by historical, social and political factors as well as for scientific and economic reasons.
 
About ResearchGate
 
ResearchGate was founded in 2008 by the physicians Dr. Ijad Madisch and Dr. Sören Hofmayer, along with computer specialist Horst Fickenscher. The company’s mission is to connect the world of science and make research open to all. 15 million researchers have made more than 140 million connections on the network, and share over half a million updates about their research daily. ResearchGate has completed four rounds of financing from Benchmark, Founders Fund, Bill Gates, Tenaya Capital, Wellcome Trust, Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, and Four Rivers Group.

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