LOS ANGELES—The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has announced the winners of the 2025 Breakthrough Prizes, celebrating exceptional achievements in the fields of Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics, and Mathematics. These prestigious awards honor the scientists driving transformative discoveries, from advancements in gene editing to insights into the fundamental particles of the universe.
Often referred to as the “Oscars® of Science,” the Breakthrough Prizes were established by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki. The prizes aim to recognize and reward the most impactful scientific contributions in modern science, with the foundation committing to a total prize pool of $18.75 million this year. Since its inception, the Breakthrough Prize has awarded over $326 million to the most innovative minds in science.
2025 Prize Winners
This year’s prizes include six $3 million awards, spanning Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics, and Mathematics, as well as several early-career recognitions. The recipients of the 2025 Breakthrough Prizes are:
Life Sciences:
-
Daniel J. Drucker – Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health, and University of Toronto
-
Joel Habener – Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University
-
Jens Juul Holst – Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research and the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen
-
Lotte Bjerre Knudsen – Novo Nordisk
-
Svetlana Mojsov – Rockefeller University
These five scientists are honored for their collective work in discovering and understanding GLP-1 hormones, leading to the development of transformative drugs for diabetes and obesity.
-
Stephen L. Hauser – University of California, San Francisco
-
Alberto Ascherio – Harvard University
Hauser and Ascherio are recognized for their groundbreaking work on multiple sclerosis (MS), particularly their identification of Epstein-Barr virus as a key risk factor and the development of B cell-based therapies for the disease.
-
David R. Liu – Merkin Institute for Transformative Technologies in Healthcare at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard University, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Liu is honored for his pioneering development of base editing and prime editing, two gene-editing technologies that enable precise corrections of genetic mutations without cutting the DNA double helix.
Fundamental Physics:
-
The ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, and LHCb Collaborations at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – With 13,508 co-authors from over 70 countries, these four collaborations are recognized for their pioneering work in particle physics, including detailed measurements of Higgs boson properties and the discovery of new particles.
-
Gerard ‘t Hooft – Utrecht University
Hooft receives the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his fundamental contributions to the development of the Standard Model of particle physics and his work on quantum field theory, particularly the strong force.
Mathematics:
-
Dennis Gaitsgory – Max Planck Institute for Mathematics
Gaitsgory is awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics for his central role in the proof of the geometric Langlands conjecture, a monumental contribution to several areas of mathematics, including number theory and algebraic geometry.
In addition to these major awards, the foundation also announced the recipients of the New Horizons Prizes in Physics and Mathematics, recognizing early-career scientists. Among the winners are Waseem Bakr for advancing quantum gas microscopy and Jeongwan Haah for his pioneering work in quantum information theory. Three women mathematicians—Si Ying Lee, Rajula Srivastava, and Ewin Tang—are also receiving the Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize for their innovative work in fields ranging from the Langlands program to quantum machine learning.
Laureates Reflect on Their Achievements
“This year’s laureates have made incredible strides that will impact millions of lives, from revolutionizing our understanding of human diseases to tackling the very fabric of the universe itself,” said Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg. “These advances once again show the transformative power of curiosity-driven research.”
Yuri Milner, one of the founders of the Breakthrough Prize, added, “The questions these scientists are asking are among the most profound in science, from the workings of life to the deepest mysteries of the cosmos. Their discoveries inspire the future of scientific inquiry.”
A Vision for the Future
The Breakthrough Prizes continue to celebrate groundbreaking scientific achievements, fostering a culture of curiosity and innovation. Each award not only recognizes the laureates’ individual work but also highlights the collaborative spirit essential to advancing science. Through the foundation’s support, the legacy of these discoveries will inspire future generations of scientists who will continue to explore, challenge, and unlock the mysteries of the world around us.
For more information on the 2025 laureates and their extraordinary contributions, visit the Breakthrough Prize website at https://breakthroughprize.org.
