AT THE fifth annual Breakthrough prize ceremony last week, a dozen scientists received a total of $25 million for fundamental contributions to human knowledge.
The event, held at NASA鈥檚 Ames Research Center in California, featured all the glitz and glam of the Oscars: a red carpet, musical guests such as Alicia Keys and will.i.am, and Morgan Freeman as host.
Winners included the physicists behind the LIGO experiment, who revealed the first detection of Einstein鈥檚 long-sought gravitational waves in February. Other prizes recognised research into fundamental physics, mathematics and life sciences.
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鈥淭his project is really mostly about public outreach,鈥� says billionaire internet investor Yuri Milner, who co-founded the prize. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we have a televised ceremony and everything around it, because the founders want to send a signal that fundamental science is important.鈥�
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪cience鈥檚 Oscars鈥�