In order to encourage the scientists, theorists and mathematicians for their respective works and acknowledge them for their immense contribution to the mankind, the organizers of popular Breakthrough Prizes on Sunday rewarded 12 leading lights with the extraordinary prize worth USD 3 million each for their outstanding work in the field of life sciences, physics astronomy and newly introduced mathematics.
Twelve global researchers were announced winners for the incredible prize at a formal awards gala during the second annual Breakthrough Prizes in San Francisco on Sunday.
The event was organized in the unofficial capital of the United States technology industry, known as Silicon Valley.
The Breakthrough Prizes, which aims to acknowledge the works of researchers from different fields, were co-founded two years ago by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Russian billionaire investor Yuri Milner, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Cathy Zang.
According to its official website, the prizes “aim to celebrate scientists and generate excitement about the pursuit of science as a career.”
Each prize is worth USD 3 million, which is almost three times more the reward money received by a Nobel Prize winner.
Among the winners included two teams of astronomers which discovered that the universe’s expansion is accelerating and not slowing down.
This is the first time when the mathematicians are also being honored for their immense contribution. The first-ever Breakthrough Prizes in the field of mathematics were shared among five scientists. Their work that received recognition ranged from algebraic geometry to analytic number theory.
Six scientists were honored for their work in the field of Life Sciences. Among the works that received accolades for Life Sciences scientists included the bacterial immunity and regulation of genes.

