BREAKTHROUGH PRIZE - Key Persons

A. Kogut

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Adam Riess

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Adrian R. Krainer

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Alan Guth

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Alexander Polyakov

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Alexander Polyakov has made profound contributions, often years ahead of their time, across a wide range of fields in fundamental physics. His main achievement is the unification of ideas governing different parts of physics by providing a general framework (the conformal field theory, instantons, and gauge/string duality) that establishes connections between apparently unrelated subjects. His other contributions include the prediction of a new state of matter at high temperature - the quark-gluon plasma - and a novel approach to turbulence.

Alexander Varshavsky

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Alexei Kitaev

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Alim Louis Benabid

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Andrei Linde

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Andrew Strominger

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Arthur L. Horwich

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Arthur McDonald

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Ashoke Sen

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

B. Gold

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Benjamin Franklin - Founder

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Founder

Bert Vogelstein

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Blayne Heckel

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

C. Barnes

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Catherine Dulac

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Charles Kane

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Charles L. Bennett

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Charles L. Sawyers

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Cori Bargmann

Cori Bargmann has produced groundbreaking insights into the functioning of neurons (brain cells) by studying the nervous systems of microscopic worms called nematodes. She has demonstrated how changing a single gene in nematode neurons can affect the large-scale behavior of the animal - for instance, making it avoid chemicals that it had previously been attracted to, or seek those it would normally avoid. This work has important implications for the understanding of far more complex nervous systems, including the human brain.

Cornelia I. Bargmann

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Cumrun Vafa

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

D. Larson

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Daniel Z. Freedman

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

David Allis

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

David Baker

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

David Botstein

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

David Botstein is one of the pioneers of the study of genes and genomes. Before genes could be sequenced as they are today, it was generally not known how close they were to each other on a strand of DNA. Botstein found a way to construct genetic linkage maps in humans, which estimated the likelihood of two genes being closely linked, based on how often they were separated when the DNA split and recombined during sexual reproduction. This systematic mapping of relationships between genes paved the way for the Human Genome Project, as well as enabling the identification of genes involved in diseases like Huntington's.

David Julius

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

David Klenerman

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

David N. Spergel

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Don W. Cleveland

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Drew Weissman

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

E. Komatsu

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Edward S. Boyden

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Edward Witten

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Edward Witten is known for his contributions to the understanding of quantum fields and strings. Among other things, he helped lead the study of dualities - quantum mechanical symmetries that have no analog in classical physics. As one consequence, it became clear that the five traditionally known string theories are limiting cases of a single theory - now sometimes called M-theory - which is a candidate for unifying the laws of nature.

Emmanuelle Charpentier

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Eric Adelberger

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Eric S. Lander

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Eugene Mele

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Eva Silverstein

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Ewine F. van Dishoeck

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Frank Bennett

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

G. Hinshaw

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

G. S. Tucker

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Gary Ruvkun

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

H.V. Peiris

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Hans Clevers

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Harry F. Noller

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Helen Hobbs

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Hidetoshi Katori

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Huda Yahya Zoghbi - Chairman

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Chairman
Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

J. Dunkley

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

J. L. Weiland

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

James P. Allison

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Janet Wootten

jw..@rubenstein.com

Jeffery W. Kelly

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Jeffrey M. Friedman

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Jennifer A. Doudna

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Jens H. Gundlach

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Joanne Chory

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

John H. Schwarz

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

John Hardy

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Joseph Incandela

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Juan Maldacena

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Jun Ye

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

K. C. Cannon

Job Titles:

Cao 70

K. M. Smith

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Karl Deisseroth

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Katalin Karikó

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Kazutoshi Mori

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Kim Nasmyth

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Kip S. Thorne

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

L. Verde

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

L. Wright

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Lewis C. Cantley

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Lyman Page Jr.

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

M. Halpern

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

M. Limon

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

M. R. Greason

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Mahlon R. DeLong

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Michael B. Green

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Michael N. Hall

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

N. Odegard

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Napoleone Ferrara

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Nathan Seiberg

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Nergis Mavalvala

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Nima Arkani-Hamed

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

O. Doré

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Pascal Mayer

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Peter Walter

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

R. Bean

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

R. S. Hill

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Rainer Weiss

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Richard J. Youle

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Richard P. Lifton

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Robert A. Weinberg

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Robert Langer

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Roeland Nusse

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

S. Mitra

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V. P

S. S. Meyer

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Member of the WMAP Science Team

Saul Perlmutter

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Shankar Balasubramanian

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Sheperd Doeleman

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Shinya Yamanaka

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Stephen J. Elledge

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Svante Pääbo

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Member of the Selection Committee
Member of Selection Committee

Svante Pääbo founded the field of paleogenetics - the study of ancient DNA found in fossils. He was the first scientist to successfully sequence the genome of Neanderthals, a species closely related to modern humans that became extinct about 40,000 years ago. In the process, he discovered that some genes of Neanderthal origin are preserved in the genomes of people today. This implies that the two species must have interbred. In addition to advancing our understanding of Neanderthals and human evolution, Pääbo's results may shed light on the origin and history of human diseases such as diabetes.