Breakthrough Prize: Winners by Year
Founded in 2012 by a group of technology entrepreneurs to reward achievements in fundamental physics, life sciences, and mathematics. Awarded annually at a televised ceremony in the Los Angeles area of California. Carries a prize of $3 million per award, the largest of any prize on this site.
Categories
Award years
Recent winners
The last 30 award years. See every Breakthrough Prize winner in one list, or use the Categories above.
2026 (special)
- David J. Gross Fundamental Physics
2026
- Muon g−2 collaboration CERN Fundamental Physics
- Albert Maguire Life Sciences
- Bryan Traynor Life Sciences
- Jean Bennett Life Sciences
- Katherine A. High Life Sciences
- Rosa Rademakers Life Sciences
- Stuart H. Orkin Life Sciences
- Swee Lay Thein Life Sciences
- Frank Merle Mathematics
- Muon g−2 collaboration Brookhaven Fundamental Physics
- Muon g−2 collaboration Fermilab Fundamental Physics
2025 (special)
- Gerardus 't Hooft Fundamental Physics
2025
- ATLAS collaboration Fundamental Physics
- Daniel J. Drucker Life Sciences
- David R. Liu Life Sciences
- Stephen L. Hauser Life Sciences
- Dennis Gaitsgory Mathematics
- CMS collaboration Fundamental Physics
- ALICE collaboration Fundamental Physics
- LHCb collaboration Fundamental Physics
2024
- Alexander Zamolodchikov Fundamental Physics
- John Cardy Fundamental Physics
- Carl H. June Life Sciences
- Sabine Hadida Life Sciences
- Thomas Gasser Life Sciences
- Simon Brendle Mathematics
2023
- Charles H. Bennett Fundamental Physics
- David Deutsch Fundamental Physics
- Gilles Brassard Fundamental Physics
- Peter W. Shor Fundamental Physics
- Clifford P. Brangwynne Life Sciences
- Demis Hassabis Life Sciences
- Emmanuel Mignot Life Sciences
- Daniel Spielman Mathematics
2022
- Hidetoshi Katori Fundamental Physics
- Jun Ye Fundamental Physics
- Jeffery W. Kelly Life Sciences
- Katalin Karikó Life Sciences
- Shankar Balasubramanian Life Sciences
- Takurō Mochizuki Mathematics
2021 (special)
- Steven Weinberg Fundamental Physics
2021
- Eric Adelberger Fundamental Physics
- Catherine Dulac Life Sciences
- David Baker Life Sciences
- Richard J. Youle Life Sciences
- Yuk Ming Dennis Lo Life Sciences
- Martin Hairer Mathematics
- Jens H. Gundlach Fundamental Physics
- Blayne Heckel Fundamental Physics
2020
- The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration Fundamental Physics
- Arthur L. Horwich Life Sciences
- David Julius Life Sciences
- Franz-Ulrich Hartl Life Sciences
- Jeffrey M. Friedman Life Sciences
- Virginia Man-Yee Lee Life Sciences
- Alex Eskin Mathematics
- Maryam Mirzakhani Mathematics
2019 (special)
- Daniel Z. Freedman Fundamental Physics
- Peter van Nieuwenhuizen Fundamental Physics
- Sergio Ferrara Fundamental Physics
2019
- Charles Kane Fundamental Physics
- Angelika Amon Life Sciences
- C. Frank Bennett Life Sciences
- Xiaowei Zhuang Life Sciences
- Zhijian Chen Life Sciences
- Vincent Lafforgue Mathematics
- Eugene Mele Fundamental Physics
2018 (special)
- Jocelyn Bell Burnell Fundamental Physics
2018
- Charles L. Bennett Fundamental Physics
- Gary Hinshaw Fundamental Physics
- Norman Jarosik Fundamental Physics
- Don W. Cleveland Life Sciences
- Joanne Chory Life Sciences
- Kim Nasmyth Life Sciences
- Peter Walter Life Sciences
- Christopher Hacon Mathematics
- James McKernan Mathematics
- Lyman Page Fundamental Physics
- David N. Spergel Fundamental Physics
2017
- Andrew Strominger Fundamental Physics
- Joseph Polchinski Fundamental Physics
- Harry F. Noller Life Sciences
- Huda Zoghbi Life Sciences
- Roel Nusse Life Sciences
- Stephen Elledge Life Sciences
- Yoshinori Ohsumi Life Sciences
- Jean Bourgain Mathematics
- Cumrun Vafa Fundamental Physics
2016 (special)
- Contributors who are authors of the paper Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger and contributors who also made important contributions to the success of LIGO. Fundamental Physics
- Ronald Drever Fundamental Physics
- Kip S. Thorne Fundamental Physics
- Rainer Weiss Fundamental Physics
2016
- Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Fundamental Physics
- Arthur B. McDonald Fundamental Physics
- Atsuto Suzuki Fundamental Physics
- Kōichirō Nishikawa Fundamental Physics
- Takaaki Kajita Fundamental Physics
- Edward S. Boyden Life Sciences
- Helen Hobbs Life Sciences
- John Hardy Life Sciences
- Svante Pääbo Life Sciences
- Ian Agol Mathematics
- Yōichirō Suzuki Fundamental Physics
2015
- Saul Perlmutter Fundamental Physics
- Alim-Louis Benabid Life Sciences
- C. David Allis Life Sciences
- Jennifer A. Doudna Life Sciences
- Victor Ambros Life Sciences
- Jacob Lurie Mathematics
- Maxim Kontsevich Mathematics
- Richard Taylor Mathematics
- Simon Donaldson Mathematics
- Terence Tao Mathematics
- Brian P. Schmidt Fundamental Physics
- Adam G. Riess Fundamental Physics
2014
- Michael Green Fundamental Physics
- Alexander Varshavsky Life Sciences
- James P. Allison Life Sciences
- Mahlon DeLong Life Sciences
- Michael N. Hall Life Sciences
- Richard P. Lifton Life Sciences
- Robert S. Langer Life Sciences
- John Henry Schwarz Fundamental Physics
2013 (special)
- Peter Jenni Fundamental Physics
- Stephen Hawking Fundamental Physics
- Fabiola Gianotti Fundamental Physics
- Michel Della Negra Fundamental Physics
- Tejinder Singh Virdee Fundamental Physics
- Guido Tonelli Fundamental Physics
- Joe Incandela Fundamental Physics
- Lyn Evans Fundamental Physics
2013
- Alexander Polyakov Fundamental Physics
- Bert Vogelstein Life Sciences
- Charles Sawyers Life Sciences
- Cornelia Bargmann Life Sciences
- David Botstein Life Sciences
- Eric S. Lander Life Sciences
- Hans Clevers Life Sciences
- Lewis C. Cantley Life Sciences
- Napoleone Ferrara Life Sciences
- Robert A. Weinberg Life Sciences
- Shinya Yamanaka Life Sciences
- Titia de Lange Life Sciences
2012
- Alan Guth Fundamental Physics
- Alexei Kitaev Fundamental Physics
- Andrei Linde Fundamental Physics
- Ashoke Sen Fundamental Physics
- Edward Witten Fundamental Physics
- Juan Maldacena Fundamental Physics
- Maxim Kontsevich Fundamental Physics
- Nathan Seiberg Fundamental Physics
- Nima Arkani-Hamed Fundamental Physics