The 2026 Breakthrough Prizes — often called the "Oscars of Science" — were announced Friday in Los Angeles, honoring researchers whose work has transformed the treatment of devastating genetic diseases and deepened our understanding of fundamental physics and mathematics. The prizes totaled $18.75 million, bringing the amount conferred over the program's 15-year history to more than $340 million.
Gene Therapies That Restore Sight and Cure Blood Disorders
Jean Bennett, Katherine A. High, and Albert Maguire shared the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for their work leading to the first FDA-approved gene replacement therapy. Their treatment targets Leber congenital amaurosis, a rare inherited retinal disease that usually leads to total blindness by early adulthood.
The therapy replaces the defective RPE65 gene, enabling children who had been going blind to regain their independence — attending regular schools, playing outside at night, and in some cases even qualifying for driver's licenses. The husband-and-wife team of Bennett and Maguire developed the therapy from conception to clinical reality, including restoring sight to Swedish Briard dogs, which they went on to adopt.
Stuart H. Orkin and Swee Lay Thein also shared a Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for their work on sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Their research identified fetal hemoglobin reactivation as a therapeutic strategy, directly contributing to the development of gene therapies now in clinical use.
ALS Genetics and Physics Precision
Rosa Rademakers and Bryan Traynor received the third Life Sciences prize for identifying key genetic causes of ALS and frontotemporal dementia, opening new pathways for treatment of these neurodegenerative diseases.
In Fundamental Physics, the Muon g-2 collaborations at CERN, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Fermilab were honored for their precision measurement of the muon's magnetic moment — an experiment that may point to physics beyond the Standard Model. David J. Gross received a Special Breakthrough Prize for pioneering the theory of the strong nuclear force.
Math and the Next Generation
Frank Merle won the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics for his advances in understanding the behavior of waves and nonlinear systems. The inaugural Vera Rubin New Frontiers Prize went to Carolina Figueiredo, and six New Horizons Prizes recognized early-career physicists and mathematicians.
"This year's laureates show what great science can do — deepen our understanding of the world and lead to discoveries that improve millions of lives," said Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan. The prizes, co-founded by Sergey Brin, the Chan-Zuckerbergs, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki, are now in their 14th year and remain the largest monetary awards in science.
