First winners of $27m physics prize announced

The inaugural winners of the Fundamental Physics Prize, the most lucrative academic prize in the world, were announced on 31 July. Each of the nine winners of the prize, which recognises transformative advances in the field, will receive US$3 million.

Awarding the annual prize is the Milner Foundation—a non-profit corporation established by Yuri Milner, a Russian entrepreneur who has earned billions investing in Internet companies like Facebook and Groupon. Milner was a physics student but dropped out of graduate school.