Breakthrough Prizes 2025: Does the “Oscars of Science” really live up to its name?

It is often claimed that we live in a post-truth era, where misinformation and fake news propagated by social media influencers often sway public opinion, and accurate knowledge is scorned due to exaggerated negative perceptions of scientific experts and the establishment (Lewandowsky, 2017).

While the public generally harbours a positive outlook on Science, the typical trust that people hold towards scientific knowledge has receded at an alarming pace. In fact, the Pew Research Center (2023) documented that compared to pre-pandemic results in 2020, the lack of confidence among American citizens that scientists act in the public’s best interests has increased by a whopping 15 percentage points. Due to several precipitating factors, such as the fear caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation,alternative narratives promulgated on social media and exaggerated claims about the epistemic authority of scientific research, it is imperative that the public remains informed about the importance of academic progress (Cologna et al., 2025).

Enter the Breakthrough Prizes: a joint initiative founded by billionaires such as Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Ann Wojcicki and Yuri Milner. These international awards, according to the board’s mission statements, aim to “celebrat[e] individual achievement and [honour] scientists as heroes of our society”, thereby “inspiring the next generation of scientists”. With categories in the Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics, and Mathematics, each of the Breakthrough Prizes boasts a monetary prize of USD 3 million, which even outstrips the prestigious Nobel Prizes that only confer a third of that reward money. Alongside the six main awards, three New Horizons Prizes for early-career achievers, three Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers in Mathematics Prizes for female mathematicians and a Breakthrough Junior Challenge Global Science Video Competition Prize for high-school students were handed out in 2025, bringing the total prize pool to a staggering USD 18.75 million!

On paper, these awards seem to be just the thing that can raise public awareness of groundbreaking scientific research in order to place the limelight on revolutionary scientists. Right?

There’s glitz and glamour, but where’s the science?

While the Nobel Prize ceremony is a formal event attended primarily by academic researchers and students, the Breakthrough Prize ceremony is a gala event frequented by Hollywood stars, tech moguls and businessmen. It is fascinating that a ceremony meant to highlight the achievements of scientists heavily relies on celebrity appearancesin order to build its credibility and public image, especially considering the news coverage on the event. For the ceremony’s 11th edition in Los Angeles, California, the event was declared a “star-studded event” that featured celebrities such as Gal Gadot, Vin Diesel, Jodie Foster, Christina Aguilera, Drew Barrymore, MrBeast, and many more (Breakthrough Prize, 2025).

The crux of the matter here is that popular idols and influencers are meant to congratulate incredible scientists for their remarkable research in the aforementioned fields, which would supposedly boost public perception of researchers and glamourise their work for the digital natives. However, this idea falls short after a cursory glance at the images and news articles relaying the ceremonial processions. The “red carpet” might be said to be laid out for scientists, but all of the attention is instead lasered in on the glitzy, ostentatious dresses adorned by Hollywood’s biggest stars. From The Hollywood Reporter to Yahoo News, the focus is on celebrity guest lists and passing quips about the importance of Science in today’s society. Would this presentation of scientific research really pique the interest of laypeople regarding novel groundbreaking work? In the end, the actual substance of the ceremony— the laureates’ incredible discoveries that will provide new avenues for human advancement in fundamental fields— seems to be overshadowed by the domineering presence of established personalities. It doesn’t help the situation that these same celebrities, rather than academicians and prolific scientists, are presenting the awards to research pioneers as a symbolic “salute” to these researchers. This appears to instead suggest that scientists need to rely on actors, singers and Internet influencers in order for their work to prominently be displayed in public.

Concerning trends for the scientific establishment remain unaddressed

Milner’s intention for the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony is for “physicists [and other scientists] to be treated as rockstars”, but does placing a vast majority of celebrities in the same room as a handful of scientists really confer that same status on the prize-winners? According to a report by the Washington Post (2016), some scientists are concerned about the wealthy exploiting the ceremony as a means to cash into the prestige of other established prize ceremonies, particularly the Nobel Prize Ceremony, by flaunting their purported interest in scientific advancement. Instead, they would prefer that those funds were to be directed instead towards laboratories and universities that are struggling due to limiting federal funding. A news feature published in Nature also shares the fears of scientists regarding how the prizes may even distort perceptions of research negatively: “new awards are an exercise in self-promotion for those behind them.... They could distort the meritocracy of peer-review-led research.” (Merali, 2013).

Still others opine that the ceremony itself is not sufficient in overturning public policy and the inclusion of scientists in governmental decisions. Bruce Lee (2016) writes in Forbes that investment in research and development in the USA has been gradually declining, and younger scientists are struggling to jumpstart their careers in swamped job markets. It is certainly not a good look for the ceremony’s mission, especially considering how the event is meant to advocate for increased focus on the importance of scientific research.

A more recent opinion piece by Satyanarayana (2025) in Scientific American even declares that the founders of the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony are directly responsible for the Trump Administration’s assault on the American scientific establishment by funding his election campaign, considering how federal funding for basic research in many universities has been slashed, while scientists are being laid off left, right and centre due to Musk’s budgeting policies as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

What the Breakthrough Prize could should have been

From the dozens of articles praising the celebrities attending an event meant for scientists to problematic conflicts of interest between the billionaires’ intentions for the future of scientific progress, there is much left wanting in the organisational decisions of this ceremony.

For starters, the ceremony should include more scientists who will be able to share their insights into the world and wonders of Science, while laureates should be given the opportunity to share their journeys as researchers. Instead of celebrities rubbing shoulders with scientists, more attention can be lent towards improving the accessibility and transparency of novel breakthroughs made by researchers, such that news articles would not be able to interpret the event as merely another hangout for celebrities to flaunt their clothes.

The inspirational performances by Katy Perry and Sia at the 11th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony were noteworthy, but would it not be more awe-inspiring for doctors and scientists to share the complexities of their research? Would it not be truly impactful for Dr Daniel J. Drucker to share how he was able to discover the physiological impacts of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists in the treatments of diabetes and obesity? What about a presentation about biologist David R. Liu’s invention of the revolutionary gene-editing technologies, base editing and prime editing, which would revolutionise future gene therapeutic procedures to treat a myriad of genetic diseases?

The priority of events that applaud researchers’ tenacity and perseverance in discovering new methods to safeguard humanity should be to raise public awareness of their struggles and eventual triumphs. Changes in the structure and execution of the showy gala event that the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony would be essential in order for the mission statements to actually be fulfilled.

Finally, in order to dissuade the rise of misinformation and pseudoscientific ideas in social media, the ceremony should enable scientists to speak up regarding the concerns that face their community, including biased political decisions and the dearth of funding received by laboratories. This would incentivise greater understanding of how their needs can be better met, allowing the prize money to be better distributed and donated to deserving research institutions and universities.

Conclusively, the extravagance and gaudy displays at the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony do not aid the scientific community in a meaningful manner. While some scientists are celebrated and hence receive handsome sums of money for their accomplishments, the dubious motivations of the founders and the lack of attention directed towards elevating the status of Science ultimately undermine the perceived worth of the event.

References:

1. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.jarmac.2017.07.008

2. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/11/14/americans-trust-in-scientists-positive-views-of-science-continue-to-decline/

3. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02090-5#ref-CR37

4. https://breakthroughprize.org/News/92

5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/12/04/silicon-valleys-nobels-mega-prizes-awarded-for-work-in-brains-the-origins-of-life-and-gravitational-waves/

6. https://doi.org/10.1038/498152a

7. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2016/12/05/breakthrough-awards-give-scientists-some-celebrity-treatment-but-its-not-enough/#fa546f078f0a

8. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dear-breakthrough-prize-billionaires-fund-the-science-youre-watching-trump/