Breakthrough Prize Ceremony: Scientists and Stars Come Together in Hollywood

The Breakthrough Prize ceremony, which honors “scientists changing the world” with sizable cash prizes, came to Hollywood for the first time on Saturday night, having previously been held in San Francisco — and the world’s top innovators were surrounded by more stars than one can see in a telescope. The ninth edition of the event — which was founded and is financially supported by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia Milner and Yuri Milner and Anne Wojcicki, and has come to be known as “the Oscars of science” — took place on the open-air roof of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. James Corden hosted, as has been the case in previous years; presenters included Kristen Bell, Lily Collins, Danny DeVito, Robert Downey Jr. (alongside Zuckerberg), Gal Gadot, Ashton Kutcher, Brie Larson, Edward Norton, Leslie Odom Jr., Chris Pine and Chloe Zhao; John Legend and will.i.am performed; and audience members included Christina Aguilera, Vin Diesel, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mila Kunis, Lionel Richie and Maria Sharapova. But the real toasts of the night were the scientists, such as Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó, whose work was fundamental in developing mRNA vaccines against COVID, and who were greeted with a lengthy standing ovation when
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