The Breakthrough Prize dubbed the “Oscars of Science,” recognizes the world’s top scientists presented in the fields of Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics, and currently includes a $3M prize. Laureates are honored at an annual ceremony broadcast globally and, laureates engage in a public program of lectures and discussions. Selection Committees composed of previous Breakthrough Prize laureates in each field choose the winners.
- 2026 – Muon g-2 Collaborations at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Fermilab (Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics), including the UW Physics Muon g-2 Team:
- Loreto P. Alonzi, Physics
- Hannah Binney, Physics
- Svende Braun, Physics
- Christine Claessens, Physics
- Martin Fertl, Physics
- Aaron Fienberg, Physics
- Nathan Froeming, Physics
- Alejandro Garcia, Physics
- Jason Hempstead, Physics
- David W. Hertzog, Physics
- Zachary Hodge, Physics
- Peter Kammel, Physics
- Kim Siang Khaw, Physics
- Jarek Kaspar, Physics
- Joshua LaBounty, Physics
- Brynn MacCoy, Physics
- Rachel Osofsky, Physics
- Erik Swanson, Physics
- Matthias Smith, Physics
- 2021 – Blayne Heckel, Physics (Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics)
- 2021 – Eric Adelberger, Physics (Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics)
- 2021 – David Baker, Biochemistry (Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences)
- 2021 – Jens H. Gundlach, Physics (Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics)
- 2020 – Lukasz Fidkowski, Physics (Breakthrough Prize – New Horizons in Physics Prize)
- 2016 – K2K & T2K Collaborations (Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics), including UW researcher:
- R. Jeffrey Wilkes, Physics
- 2016 – KamLAND Collaboration (Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics), including UW researchers :
- Jason Detwiler, Physics
- Sanshiro Enomoto, Physics
- Kazumi Tolich (Ishii), Physics
- Nikolai Tolich, Physics
- 2016 – SNO Collaboration (Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics), including UW researchers :
- Jason Detwiler, Physics
- Peter Doe, Physics
- Hamish Robertson, Physics
- Nikolai Tolich, Physics
- 2016 – Super K Collaboration (Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics), including UW researcher:
- R. Jeffrey Wilkes, Physics