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Breakthrough New Horizons in Physics Prize 2019

Recipients of the 2019 Breakthrough and New Horizons Prizes announced

17 October 2018 | San Francisco

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation and its sponsors – Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Ma Huateng, Yuri and Julia Milner and Anne Wojcicki – announced today the recipients of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize, awarding a collective total of $22 million to nine researchers for important achievements in the Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics.

In addition to the seven main-stage prizes, a total of six New Horizons Prizes, worth $100,000 each, were awarded to seven physicists and five mathematicians for early-career achievements in their respective fields. Full citations can be found below.

  • Brian Metzger – Columbia University

    Citation: For pioneering predictions of the electromagnetic signal from a neutron star merger, and for leadership in the emerging field of multi-messenger astronomy.

  • Rana Adhikari, Lisa Barsotti and Matthew Evans – California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively

    Citation: For research on present and future ground-based detectors of gravitational waves.

  • Daniel Harlow, Daniel L. Jafferis and Aron Wall – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Stanford University, respectively

    Citation: For fundamental insights about quantum information, quantum field theory, and gravity.

The 2019 Breakthrough Prize and New Horizon Prize recipients will be recognized at the Breakthrough Prize ceremony, or the “Oscars of Science,” on Sunday, November 4. The gala-event, hosted by acclaimed actor, producer and philanthropist Pierce Brosnan, will bring together luminaries of the science and tech communities with celebrities, athletes and musicians, all attending with the common goal of celebrating science and scientific achievement. This year’s ceremony will be broadcast live on Nat Geo, YouTube and Facebook Live from the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

In September, an additional Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics was announced, recognizing British astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell for her role in the surprise discovery of pulsars – an exotic new type of star – first announced in February 1968, and for her inspiring scientific leadership over the last five decades.

The Breakthrough Prize is a set of international awards bestowed in three categories in recognition of scientific advance. One Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is given each year. The winner receives $3 million. The prize can be split between two or more scientists.