Breakthrough Prize names 2026 laureates, awarding six $3m prizes across science and math
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has announced the 2026 Breakthrough Prize laureates, awarding six $3 million prizes for discoveries spanning life sciences, fundamental physics and mathematics. Early‑career researchers were also recognized with New Horizons and Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers awards, with laureates to be celebrated tonight at a ceremony in Los Angeles.
In the Life Sciences, Jean Bennett, Katherine A. High and Albert Maguire share a prize recognizing work that led to the first FDA‑approved gene replacement therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis, a rare inherited retinal disease that often causes total blindness in early adulthood.
By replacing the defective RPE65 gene, the therapy has allowed children who were losing their sight to gain greater independence, attend regular schools, play outside at night and, in some cases, qualify for driver’s licenses. Other life sciences laureates include Stuart H.
Orkin and Swee Lay Thein, and Rosa Rademakers and Bryan Traynor. Collectively, this year’s life sciences awards recognize gene therapies for sickle cell disease and beta‑thalassemia, and the identification of a key genetic cause of ALS and frontotemporal dementia.
The Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics went to Frank Merle for advances in the mathematics of waves and nonlinear systems. In fundamental physics, the prize was awarded to the Muon g‑2 Collaborations at CERN, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Fermilab for precision measurements of the muon’s magnetic moment.
A Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics honored David J. Gross for pioneering the theory of the strong nuclear force. The Foundation also presented the inaugural Vera Rubin New Frontiers Prize to Carolina Figueiredo.
Six New Horizons Prizes, each worth $100,000 and shared by 15 early‑career physicists and mathematicians, were awarded, along with three $50,000 Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prizes for women mathematicians who recently completed their PhDs.
“This year’s laureates show what great science can do — deepen our understanding of the world and lead to discoveries that improve millions of lives,” Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan said in a statement. Co‑founder Yuri Milner said the winners are building a “cathedral of knowledge” on foundations laid by earlier scientific giants.
Popularly known as the “Oscars of Science,” the Breakthrough Prizes were created by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki, and are now in their 14th year. This year’s prize money totals $18.75 million, bringing the amount conferred over the 15 years of the Breakthrough Prize to more than $340 million.