The Breakthrough prizes attempt to upstage the Nobels

IN 2012 the world of science was stirred by an announcement that nine physicists would each receive the eye-popping sum of $3m for their contributions to such arcane fields as string theory and inflationary cosmology. They were the first winners of Breakthrough prizes—a set of now-annual awards given to the brains behind important recent advances in basic research. The Breakthroughs are both inspired by, and intended to outdo, those willed into existence at the beginning of the 20th century by Alfred Nobel.

Like Nobel, Yuri Milner, the prizes’ creator, is a scientist-turned-businessman (he is a former physicist who has made his fortune as a venture capitalist). Unlike Nobel, however, he has not created an exclusive brand. Anyone with a few million dollars burning a hole in his or her back pocket can join in. The initial awards for physics, for example, were followed by equally munificent prizes in life sciences and mathematics. These were paid for in part by Anne…Continue reading
Source: Economist