2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

April 8, 2025

The 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics has recognised 13,508 physicists from four collaborative projects at CERN. This prestigious award, often referred to as the Oscars of Science, was announced on April 5, 2025. It marks advancements in life sciences, mathematics, and fundamental physics.

About Breakthrough Prizes

The Breakthrough Prize was set up in 2013. Its founders include Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki, and Yuri and Julia Milner. The awards celebrate scientific achievements and inspire future generations. They promote a vision of science for the benefit of all as a global and apolitical initiative.

Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

Three groups of scientists received this award. First, five scientists developed weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, through their research on the GLP-1 hormone. Second, Alberto Ascherio and Stephen L. Hauser were recognised for their work on Multiple Sclerosis, identifying B-cells’ role and linking Epstein-Barr virus to the disease. Third, David R Liu was awarded for his innovations in gene-editing technologies, particularly base and prime editing, allowing precise DNA modifications.

Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

This prize was awarded to four collaborations at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb. Their research focused on the Higgs boson, crucial for understanding mass in fundamental particles. Their findings confirm the symmetry-breaking mechanism of mass generation and explore new particle interactions. The prize money supports further research and grants for doctoral students at CERN.

Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics

Dennis Gaitsgory received the Mathematics Breakthrough Prize for his very important role in proving the geometric Langlands conjecture. This work bridges various mathematical fields and reflects over thirty years of dedication to developing new tools in derived algebraic geometry.

The Langlands Program is often called the “grand unified theory of mathematics,” was started in 1967 by Robert Langlands. The goal of this program is to connect different areas of mathematics, especially number theory and harmonic analysis. In the 1990s, a similar link was found between geometry and harmonic analysis, leading to the birth of the geometric Langlands Program.

In 2024, Dennis Gaitsgory from the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Germany, along with eight other researchers, made a major breakthrough. In five detailed research papers (around 1,000 pages), they proved that many geometric shapes are connected to ideas from calculus. For this big achievement, Gaitsgory was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, which includes a reward of $3 million.

Other Awards

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation also awarded six New Horizons Prizes, each valued at $100,000, to early-career physicists and mathematicians. Additionally, the Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize was given to three women mathematicians pursuing their PhD, each receiving $50,000.

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