Post by Princeton University

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation named Albert Maguire '82 and David Gross, a 2004 Nobel laureate in Physics and professor emeritus, as winners of two of its marquee prizes for outstanding scientific discovery. Maguire, who concentrated in psychology as a Princeton undergraduate, won the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences “for developing a therapy for inherited retinal degeneration that became the first FDA-approved gene therapy for a genetic disease.” Gross won a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics “for a lifetime of groundbreaking contributions to theoretical physics, from the strong force to string theory, and for tireless advocacy for basic science worldwide.” Seven other Princetonians were awarded early-career Breakthrough fellowships, including Mingjia Zhang, an instructor in mathematics, who received a Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize; physics Ph.D. candidate Carolina Figueiredo, who received the inaugural Vera Rubin New Frontiers Prize; and four Princeton graduate alumni and one former postdoctoral fellow who received New Horizons in Physics prizes. “The brilliant scientists who win the Breakthrough Prize are building a cathedral of knowledge on foundations laid down by the giants who came before them,” said prize co-founder Yuri Milner in a statement announcing this year’s winners. “We owe our civilization — and its future — to them.” Learn more about each recipient: https://bit.ly/4eONwZ3