Music legend Lionel Richie expressed his awe at being among some of the world’s leading scientific minds, reflecting on the excitement of learning about innovations shaping the future. He celebrated the importance of recognizing scientists whose work transforms everyday life, noting that the Breakthrough Prize brings these often-unsung pioneers into the spotlight where they belong.
Watch the 2026 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony - link in bio!
Academy Award–winning directors Ron Howard and Brian Grazer paid tribute to Jim Lovell, honoring his remarkable legacy as an astronaut who journeyed to space four times. Reflecting on his courage, resilience, and leadership in the face of extraordinary challenges, and how his story continues to inspire the world to see further and aim higher.
Watch the 2026 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony – link in bio!
Stream the 2026 Breakthrough Prize ceremony now, and watch the stars come out to shine a light on great scientists like Cliff Brangwynne and Anthony Hyman, who discovered how cells self-organize through phase separation into tiny membrane-free liquid droplets, revealing a new way biological systems are structured and function. Link in bio.
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Stream the 2026 Breakthrough Prize ceremony now, and watch the stars come out to shine a light on great scientists like Jean Bennett, Katherine High and Albert Maguire, who developed a gene therapy for inherited blindness.
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The Twelfth Breakthrough Prize Ceremony is now streaming on YouTube. Don’t miss the stories, the laureates, and the celebration of groundbreaking discovery. Link in bio.
Stream the 2026 Breakthrough Prize ceremony on Sunday April 26 at 3PM Eastern, and watch the stars come out to shine a light on great scientists like Stuart Orkin and Swee Lay Thein, whose work laid the foundations for gene therapies for sickle-cell disease and beta-thalassemia.
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Children with Leber congenital amaurosis experience early-onset blindness due to mutations in the RPE65 gene, which disrupts the retina’s ability to respond to light.
Scientists Jean Bennett (University of Pennsylvania), Katherine High (University of Pennsylvania, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Rockefeller University), and Albert Maguire (University of Pennsylvania) developed a gene therapy that delivers a healthy copy of RPE65 directly to retinal cells. Tested in animals and humans, the therapy successfully restored vision, becoming the first FDA-approved gene replacement therapy for a genetic disease. Children who once faced darkness can now recognize faces, read signs, and navigate their world with confidence. For this transformative work, the three scientists are honored with the 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
@uofpenn@childrensphila@rockefelleruniv
Watch the 2026 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony premiere on Sunday, April 26 at 3 PM Eastern and see how these scientists transformed lives – link in bio!
Stream the 2026 Breakthrough Prize ceremony on Sunday April 26 at 3PM Eastern, and watch the stars come out to shine a light on great scientists like Frank Merle, who tamed equations describing critical systems like rogue waves.
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By the 1970s, most fundamental forces—gravity, electromagnetism, and radioactive decay—were well understood. But the strong nuclear force, which holds atomic nuclei together and powers the sun, remained a mystery.
Then David Gross and his colleagues discovered asymptotic freedom, showing that the strong force weakens as particles approach one another but grows stronger as they move apart, confining them within the nucleus. This discovery led to quantum chromodynamics, completing the Standard Model of particle physics.
For his lifetime of pioneering contributions to, and leadership in, theoretical physics, David Gross (Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, and University of California, Santa Barbara) is awarded the 2026 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
@ucsantabarbara@kavlifoundation
Learn more about his journey at the 2026 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony, Sunday, April 26 at 3 PM Eastern – link in bio!
Stream the 2026 Breakthrough Prize ceremony on Sunday April 26 at 3PM Eastern and watch the stars come out to shine a light on great scientists like the hundreds of contributors to the Muon g-2 collaborations, who measured the magnetic behavior of a sub-atomic particle to extraordinary precision.
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Carolina Figueiredo, Vera Rubin New Frontiers Prize laureate, described the Breakthrough Prize as a unique and inspiring experience, especially as a young scientist. She spoke about the growing presence of women in physics, emphasizing the importance of recognition and community in creating a more welcoming environment. She also noted how events like this help connect different fields and bring science to broader audiences.
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Matea Cañizares’ video on quark-gluon plasma earned her the 2025 Breakthrough Junior Challenge award. At the 2026 Breakthrough Prize, she shared her excitement about attending, noting that the event highlights scientists, fosters collaboration, and brings together people across generations, inspiring young people like herself.
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