2020 Breakthrough Prize Live Stream: Seeing the Invisible

[Music] tonight live from hangar 1 at NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley the brightest stars from the worlds of science technology and Hollywood are gathered to award over 20 million dollars for excellence in physics mathematics and the life sciences [Music] this is the breakthrough prize scientists changing the world [Music] please welcome your host James Corden [Music] hello everybody how are you good evening and welcome to this the presentation of this year's breakthrough prize I'm your host James Corden otherwise known as the third Winklevoss twin that's you knew that we're here at the NASA Ames Research Center behind me here this is one of the largest freestanding structures in the world now regular attendees of the breakthrough prize will know this event actually used to be held inside that structure but here's the thing since it was built in the 1930s it turns out that structure contains ledge and other very toxic materials so they've done the sensible thing and they've moved it to a tent eight inches away from that structure we're fine I'm sure we're fine we're fine right it'll be fine now this show isn't only live happening here in this room it is also being broadcast live on YouTube and we're on National Geographic right now all of you which makes sense doesn't it yeah nothing National Geographic it makes sense nothing is more rugged than a group of scientists getting together to give each other silver trophies tonight is about science it's about brilliant minds blazing trails in physics biology and math so when you needed a master of ceremonies naturally you turn to me a late-night talk show host with no formal college education but tonight is not about me it's about it's about so many incredible people being honored here tonight in this room people like dr. Jeffrey Friedman where's Jeffrey where's Jeffrey there he is an amazing man an incredible man Geoffrey discovered a new endocrine system that regulates food intake which is great news for everyone who went particularly hard on their kids Halloween candy this week Thank You Geoffrey one of tonight's winners is the event horizon telescope team who took the first ever photograph of a black hole there it is just there look at that there it is who would have guessed it would be black and sort of hole shaped three years that took that photograph of the black hole actually helped inspire tonight's theme which is seeing the invisible the idea of illuminating hidden worlds things we know are there but nobody sees them like a talk show that's on at 12:37 a.m. on CBS technically this room is the biggest audience I've ever played to the breakthrough prize is called as you will have me heard many times tonight the Oscars of science and I must say I thought the campaigning for awards during this breakthrough season was shameless I mean Peter van Nieuwenhuis and where's Peter where are you Peter yes listen pizza here's the thing yes your use of quantum variables in the description of the geometry of space-time was impressive but a full-page ad in variety really come on let's keep it clean guys but it's exciting to be here the biggest names in tech and science are here tonight or to put it in a way that the people watching on YouTube might understand if Tony Stark were a real person he'd be in this room tonight but look around look around this room in here we have some of the smartest minds and the worst haircuts in the history of humanity [Laughter] [Applause] Mark Zuckerberg is here tonight along with Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki Elon Musk said he would have loved him to have made it but the traffic on the Hyperloop is terrible tonight but really his the tonight is all about you the inventors the scientists the researchers the pioneers who make our lives better tonight you are the cool ones lenny Kravitz's sat there yet you are the rock stars okay you rock whether those rocks be native elements oxides sulfates carbonates it doesn't matter it's all about you this is your night to shine this is the night to show those obnoxious high school bullies that everyone secretly hated who really wins in the end think about it tonight you get to be the obnoxious police that everyone secretly hates this is your night people go crazy go crazy which in Silicon Valley means putting a little extra butter in your bulletproof coffee break out that fancy fleece jacket take an extra micro dose of whatever Joe Rogan gave you at Burning Man okay now I was thinking about tonight and it's a special night full of special people and I thought well how do we really kick this off in the best way and if it's all right with you I thought maybe maybe maybe we could start with a song because this is an incredible night in an incredible room but let's be honest is very convenient for the airport [Music] as award shows go it's got to be the most convenient for an airport does it now here's the thing that not many people will know tonight tonight the winners of the breakthrough prize will be awarded three million dollars each three million dollars there's so much you can do with three million dollars it's incredible it's it's like you won the lottery [Music] if you meticulously dedicated your entire life to scratching off the lottery - so if it's okay with you [Music] this is a song about the breakthrough the qualities it takes to win a breakthrough are qualities that few of us possess genius passion luck persistence and a bunch of lab assistants just as smart as you and making even less the progress that you make you only make through years of setbacks sacrifice and self-reliance but the good news is tonight you'll find out you've got all right in fact you've done three million dollars worth of science you have spent eight years identifying leptin that's the hormone that's the reason I am so thin you have burnished your credentials on abelian differentials and God heat when you research cap society you have analyzed the shape of proteins kept in there you have captured supermassive black hole Giants from tdp-43 to super gravity you fallen three million smackeroos of science tonight we're saying thanks we're saying welcome to the ranks of the Pythagoras priests these postures Pauling's Paul it's potpourri tonight the effect of our applause is one of which though works the cause assurance boils borns Bradford's columns Koreans Kappas kirchhoff's hooks or Hubble's yes tonight you will skates through a frictionless States feeling cooler than bose-einstein condensates and when the new day dawns you'll be free to attack it three million photons in your quantum packet true Sciences don't do it for the glory they do it so that knowledge can advance and in their quest for understanding their exacting self demanding and mostly grants well you true heroes of the laboratory tonight your world and tech form an alliance [Music] [Music] [Music] let's start the show here to present our first award the founder and CEO - video communications argue on an Academy Award winner Allison Janney [Applause] [Music] [Applause] good evening it's wow it's incredibly thrilling to be here tonight and also a little bit awkward you see Eric and I have spent the last two weeks rehearsing around the clock for our opening number tonight tragically we came up with the exact same song as James I mean you know what were the chances of us both rhyming frictionless state with bose-einstein condensates we were yeah we were so prepared we were so prepared and in now I'm really nervous I know I'm sorry and I luckily have a special cheek to give me courage you didn't tell me about this chili pepper it's tasty you want to try it I know I'm not a spicy girl I mean not here I can tell you that I'm not a nurse with nervous anymore but I feel very hot you know our first British Food Prize winner tonight actually this car word why Chili Peppers is the heart he's asking fundamental questions about how our sensory systems take in the world around us so let's take in a little of his world how do we feel the world around us what is pleasure what is pain David Julius has discovered how molecules found in nature affect our senses from the mind-altering power of poisons and painkillers to the heat of a chili pepper I've always been fascinated by natural products and how plants and animals have evolved to make chemicals that we can exploit for research and to understand the biological world natural products give us chemical cues that we can use to hack into the nervous system to understand how it works I think what's fascinating about sensory systems is when you come to realize that every animal sees the world in a different way how does a snake see the infrared world how does a a shark detect electrical fields to navigate through its environment we've used natural products like capsaicin which is the pungent agent in chili peppers as a sort of chemical probe to identify molecules in our body that are involved in pain sensation sensory systems enable us to construct an internal representation of the external world by understanding the fundamental mechanisms of pain sensation joyas is pursuing a path that could lead to new treatments why do we feel pain and how do we do that the pain pathway in its purest form is designed to protect us from injury a key question is to ask how pain becomes debilitating and outlives its usefulness as a warning system how can our brain trick us into thinking we're feeling one thing when it's really something else evolution and the natural world are really the great teachers of biology for discovering moleculars cells and mechnimals and lying prints incision the breakthrough prize and life sciences is awarded to David Julius Peppers for wondering how they stimulate hold and he'd better get busy finding out and he did thank you it's a great thrill and a privilege to be here with all of you tonight to celebrate the power of human thinking imagination and creativity we live at a time when technology and so many other resources makes so much possible and yet paradoxically we seem to be facing a trend towards anti-intellectualism fact free decision-making and superstition and I think the solution to this the antidote is education and a commitment by each of us to inspire our communities of young people to pursue intellectual achievements so that they can experience the joy of discovery and the joy of the power of fact-filled thinking for themselves and indeed I believe our future depends on it thank you [Music] when we return we'll meet three scientists who reimagine the subatomic world plus the brilliant woman who has discovered fundamental mechanisms behind diseases like Parkinson's Alzheimer's and ALS you you [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome back let's take a look at the early work of one of our next presenters [Music] she's here and she has an age today please welcome drew Barrymore and co-founder of Robin Hood Vlad hello [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening yeah what exactly is happening I seem to find myself at an actual NASA base alongside some incredible Earthlings both male and female who are fully capable of figuring out how et really could phone home or maybe just post some vacation picks on intergalactic social media if there is intelligent life anywhere out there they must be asking some of the same questions as us what is happening what is the world what are the basic elements of reality and the laws that animate them it takes a curious mind to ask these questions and a brilliant mind to make progress in answering them our next three laureates are three such brilliant minds in the 1970s they use principles of symmetry to build an elegant new framework describing the particles and forces of nature let's take a glimpse at the theory of super gravity what is the world what is it made of what are energy and matter space and time in the last century two theories emerged Einstein's general relativity explained gravity the earth revolving about the Sun the Apple dropping from the tree our swerves along the curves of space and time all else is quantum beyond the limits of our senses the solid world dissolves into a shimmer a dance of light and matter a flickering of probabilities and then came a new idea what if particles had hidden twins matter twinned with shadow forces forces with shadow matter but still the two worlds gravity and quantum remained distinct then three physicists invent a new theory super gravity they imagine gravity as a particle with its shadow twin and so we've quantum patterns into the space-time fabric their work opens a path to a possible future theory of quantum gravity that could describe the most extreme events from the birth of the cosmos to the heart of a black hole [Music] for the invention of super gravity the first practical attempt to unify gravity and quantum mechanics this year we are awarding a special breakthrough prize in fundamental physics - Sergio Ferrara dan Friedman and Peter van nu and hoisin Dan Peter and Sergio live far apart but met together the last time three years ago at CERN in Switzerland at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of their discovery of super gravity I am pleased and honored to join today the italian oscar winners science following so many Italians who were Oscar winners in the Performing Arts three senior Italian scientists have been awarded so far the special breakthrough prize in fundamental physics and they are Tinelli and Fabiola Gianotti from CERN why three Italians have won the Oscar of the first performing of roaring actors they are Anna Magnani Sophia Loren and Roberto Benigni thank you very much no bad throw this is a truly wonderful moment for me and for super gravity particle physics has had a fantastic century culminating in the elegant standard model yet it is not complete we need to learn the next steps beyond it this is where nature is hiding as its secrets physicists can uncover those secrets it is a privilege to be part of this challenging quest [Applause] when I heard I had won this prize I was sitting at the kitchen table paying a huge dental bill when I told my wife she said now you can buy a whole new set of teeth old physicists like me may fade away but science remains science is a rock of truth in a sea of fake news [Applause] [Music] Sciences culture and it opens windows to what makes the world tick let us hope that nature is aware of our efforts [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] watch out tonight that when that wild pack of silver foxes hit the dance floor later get out the way I'm telling you now our next two presenters are an inspiration to young people everywhere including me I'm still young and I am still young anime no I'm not ladies and gentlemen a pediatrician and a teacher who's helping all children get the future they deserve dr. Priscilla Chan and a supermodel and entrepreneur who started a free coding camp for girls Carly closed [Applause] [Music] [Applause] when I first started learning to code I discovered that solving technical problems can be a joy in itself but though it's driven by pure curiosity science can also be a matter of life and death working on the frontiers of neurodegeneration puts researchers face-to-face with the fragility of human life our next award recognizes two achievements that bring us closer to understanding major energy donor diseases dr. Lee's work focuses on the role that misfolded proteins have a neurodegenerative disease how they aggregate and spread from cell to cell leading to the progression of Parkinson's Alzheimer's ALS frontal temporal dementia and other conditions dr. Lee's work is establishing an empirical basis for targeted therapies and that's always the goal in health care but especially when it comes to diseases of the brain breakthroughs like dr. Lee's showing a powerful light in the dark how do our brains work and what are the mechanisms that make them fail Virginia Lee has discovered the genetic origins of three different proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases we isolated the pathologies that are found in patients without Armour disease and Parkinson's disease my father is the cinematographer Oranje Pratt he shot films such as Batman Brazil Harry Potter and dozens more it was fun to have a dad who made movies we grew up on film sets traveling the world but he also made movies of us capturing our family moments Timm Timm me baby [Music] my dad now has Alzheimer's and now that his own memories are fading these images are even more precious it's like remembering life through his eyes [Music] patient with these diseases they accumulate abnormally folded protein that eventually clump together to form tangles when the clump formed the protein cannot do its normal function when the mind works we need to know why it works when the mind does not work we need to understand why it fails right and so by understanding why it fails them we should be able to treat different diseases of the brain for that it's already taken a huge toll but due to the genetic nature of his condition I also have a 50% chance of succumbing to the disease it's hard to think about but where there's science there's hope knowing that there are amazing people like Virginia Lee working on this means we have a chance of beating it 20 years ago if someone would say to me that you actually might live through a successful communica traffic and zombie disease I would say that I don't think it will happen but now it might happen I mean in the next 10 20 years it's possible [Music] for discovering protein aggregates in dementia ALS that in revealing that different aggregates of proteins in different cell types underlie Parkinson's disease in multiple systems atrophy the breakthrough prize and life sciences is awarded to dr. Virginia Lee Virginia Lee was born in China and raised in Hong Kong before going into science [Applause] hada me of music in London England [Music] this is really great honor and growing up in Hong Kong in a traditional Chinese family my mother never wanted me to become a professional let alone a scientist thankfully John Chow Janowski was sitting right there my life partner and collaborator convinced me to embark on this wonderful journey with him identifying proteins that are involved in devastating neurological diseases which affect more and more of us but have no effective treatment to develop new ones multidisciplinary approach numerous collaborators students postdocs and staff scientists have participated in contributed to our research and I truly want to thank them for the dedication commitment [Music] [Applause] [Music] black holes have such strong gravity that not even light can escape so how can we ever see one our next laureates found an ingenious way up next live on National Geographic [Music] you oh so we're back we were just talking about lowering the boiling point of a liquid by reducing atmospheric pressure and it you wouldn't understand it's a science thing and I'm pretty in with science now let's take a look at some work from our next presenter I'm telling you it's changing we have not finished taking or reduce local gravitational fields are increasing exponentially everything says we better get the hell out of here it will be visible again in 40 seconds we will make our own judgments then I'm taking a send data with or without them thrusters at half power entering outer event horizon please welcome levar burton and breakthrough prize founder mark zuckerberg [Music] [Applause] the numbers of real-world technologies inspired by the imaginary universe of Star Trek is pretty impressive Kirk's communicator became the flip cellphone my crew used tablet computers on the enterprise before Apple invented the iPad I'm pretty sure they owe me money in scientists and technologists are working to turn Geordi LaForge advisor into prosthetic devices for the blind I believe that science and technology and the imagination behind them can help us solve a lot of our problems and including can help us to cure prevent and manage all human diseases within our children's lifetimes but for that to happen we have to invest in science absolutely once upon a time black holes only existed in our imaginations but then scientists found them but still they thought we would never actually be able to see one I mean how could we see one when light itself can't escape from them but scientists ingenuity and their technology are not so easily beaten so let's get to know the people who made it their quest to photograph a black hole before we knew black holes existed we imagined them in our minds hundreds of years ago people first started asking the question whether a star could be so massive that even light couldn't escape from its surface and through the work of many luminaries over the years we've now come to realize that black holes naturally exist so the question is how do you see the unseeable because black holes are cloaked in this gravitational invisibility region you realize that all the gas and dust flowing on to the black holes super heats in a cosmic traffic jam eating itself to billions of degrees so what you're looking at is essentially light from behind the black hole being bent in an extreme way around just before it disappears through the event horizon the event horizon is the point of no return the region where gravity is so strong the even light can escape in order to capture this image we had to have the angular resolution that's equivalent to being able to read a newspaper in Los Angeles while you're standing in New York so to do this we had to build a telescope the size of the earth and that is what we did from Spain to Hawaii to Arizona to Chile to the South Pole oh you need telescopes around the world all operating at exactly the same microsecond you need teams of people at each of those telescopes people had to come together countries had to come together ideas had to come together and this took over a decade there was never any moment when we were a hundred percent certain that anything would work we like to say it is that we jump off cliffs invent parachutes on the way down were uncertain but we're confident enough in the team that we were going to be ready when opportunity presented itself and that's what happened we have seen and taken a picture of a black hole we asked the deepest question we'd seen the unseeable we open a new window on the universe [Music] pretty cool Oh Manson for the first image of a supermassive black hole taken with an earth-sized alliance of telescopes the breakthrough prize and fundamental physics is awarded to the event horizon telescope collaboration it began with a small team then grew to include 347 scientists at 60 institutions in 20 countries around the world and accepting on behalf of the collaboration is its founding director Shepard Dolan the three million breakthrough prize between the 347 scientists who worked on the PhD experiment they're now working on producing a photo of the black hole at the heart of our own Milky Way it's a great honor to accept this award on behalf of our wonderful international collaboration when we saw the first image of a black hole our team experienced a range of emotions but mostly we felt alive because that moment of discovery is what it means to be human we're grateful to the many groups who funded our quest as well as the loved ones who have put up with our obsession sometimes for decades this image connects us across a hundred years to Einstein Schwarzschild and more recently to Stephen Hawking who sadly did not live long enough to share this moment with us but some of his family are here tonight and to them I would like to say how inspirational Stephen was to our project and now we hope that this image will inspire all of you [Music] [Applause] one point I'm here with Lucy Hawking right now hearing Shep say that your father was an inspiration for that experiment what do you think this achievement would have meant to him well I mean this was super emotional for us to see the first image of a black hole because not only was it an incredible achievement by event horizon telescope but it was kind of the ultimate validation of our fathers 45 year quest to understand the nature of black holes and the incredible thing is that the image is exactly as he described them to us from his imagination wow that's that's incredible as a science writer what do you think it means for Humanity to actually see a black hole I think it connects us to science it makes it real and exciting and accessible I think it leads people to ask well what's coming next what else will we be able to achieve I think it shows us that we can be so much more than we even dream of even me even you James definitely you seriously very seriously it's an emotional time like science music is a truly international community is only fitting that our stage is graced by an award-winning artists from China she's singing a song that speaks to our very human desire to see the unseen here performing outside please welcome Rachel Zhang [Applause] [Music] Reuters hat it is [Music] using [Music] no place where [Music] go [Music] we said [Music] [Music] finally learn how just funnin or is low but you send me back to it I'm gonna sue we never come before the nights we fight and so be it but sticking by the shell gonna wait for your coming from the other side [Music] [Applause] how do our brains regulate our appetites we'll meet the man who found the answer when the breakthrough prize continues you you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome back our next presenters just took DNA tests and they are 100% that award-winning actor and 100% that founder and CEO please welcome Edward Norton and a founder of 23andme and the breakthrough prize and widgets key [Applause] [Music] science shows us hidden worlds and what is more hidden in the human mind a big part of being an actor or a filmmaker is to work to understand character motivation our waring wants and needs and scientists who study the brain are in a very different way on the same quest I started 20 through me because I was fascinated by what our genes can tell us about ourselves so much about where we come from who we are and even where we're headed the more we learn about DNA the clearer it becomes just how much our DNA influences who we are that doesn't mean we can't change but when we find it hard to change we should sometimes realise that things are beyond our control our next laureate discovered the gene that drives some of our most basic appetites where do our appetites come from Jeffrey Friedman had a hunch about how genes control hunger it been well known for decades that a single gene could control weight and behavior what wasn't known was the identity of the gene the discovery of leptin really did change my life and allowed me to live and pursue all my goals and dreams that I had wanted for myself and around the age of four I was the average weight of a grown adult woman it was around this time as well that dr. Gibson in British Columbia and dr. Friedman we're doing research on this same issue and that was the first time in my life that someone could actually connect my symptoms to a real disorder there was one single experiment we did that told me not only that we had identified the gene but that the gene was likely to encode a hormone that regulated appetite we've been working on this for eight years and I never imagined this day would come I developed this film at about 3:00 in the morning my held it up to the light like this and I sort of realized what I was seeing and it was just euphoric I was admitted into the hospital and I started a trial of injections within six months of using those injections I lost around 70 pounds almost half my body weight I think many people look at the obese and and view it as a lack of discipline or a personal failing I don't think it is I think each of us have our own individual biology that's instructed by the particular genes we inherit and we now know that genetic differences account for differences in weight I think that research like dr. Friedman did is hopefully going to change the way society looks at people and make society more tolerant and understanding as opposed to judgmental [Music] [Applause] liquid dystrophy lipid dystrophy is a disease that affects the body's ability to produce healthy fat we have with us tonight a very brave woman who can tell us what it's like to battled lipodystrophy and what the discovery of leptin did for her ladies and gentlemen please welcome ELISA wisdom [Applause] growing up I was a very sick child and spent most of my life in doctors offices it started out as early signs of diabetes which my Rockstar mother who's an RN noticed and spiraled into high cholesterol high blood pressure the works I had the blood panel of a morbidly obese alcoholic despite doing sports since I was 4 years old no one really knew why I was sick some people even thought I was causing it myself but what they didn't know is that I was getting worse so they kept throwing pills at me to treat the symptoms 13 to be exact but I took every day during college I learned that I had an extremely rare condition called congenital generalized lycra dystrophy which was causing most of my symptoms and that there was no cure for it by the time I was nearing graduation my heart had nearly stopped a few times my liver was shutting down I didn't think I was going to make it through to see my Stanford graduation to see the rest of my 20s to experience this adulting thing that everyone had talked so much about but then I found leptin or rather dr. Jeffrey Friedman did and since then my liver has returned to normal my heart is functioning fine and I'm finally getting to experience this adulting thing which let me tell you is a more overrated than I thought so thank you dr. Friedman for your discovery that literally saved my life and the lives of many across the globe I wouldn't be here without you and I'm forever grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to live thank you thank you so much Alisa now for the discovery of a new endocrine system through which fat signals the brain to regulate food intake the breakthrough prize in life sciences is awarded to Jeffrey Friedman Jeffrey Friedman's discovery of leptin made the front cover of the journal Nature he has copies signed by Wayne Gretzky Mark Messier Lionel Messi 3-methyl Jabbar and many many more [Music] well Melissa just said so much more than I could possibly say I mean who gets a moment like like that thank you I'm glad we're here together growing up on Long Island attending public schools I didn't know enough to dream of the life I now lead a life spent learning new things our discovery of leptin - provided an alternative to the view that obesity is a personal failing and a new treatment for seriously ill patients like so many American America my grandparents were immigrants who came seeking opportunity and it makes me so happy to think of how proud they would be tonight but I'm grateful that I get to share this occasion with my wife and two daughters who are here tonight thank you all so much [Applause] please welcome the CEO of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick and model and actress Adriana Lima [Music] Galileo said the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics that's true but that language also describes world's never found in nature mathematicians like all artists explore new spaces of the imagination and as scientists and artists they discover truth and beauty through imagination our next laureate went on a journey of exploration that lasted for many years along with his brilliant and inspired colleague who sadly is no longer with us they accomplished something truly extraordinary it was my dream for more than 20 years and I never told the achill what we achieved Alex asked in all the things that have learned from him I mean I met Miriam when she was a postdoc at Princeton University I was a visitor invasive advance target and we learned very different things as graduate students looking at the same problem from different angles see what are those pictures same as all this brilliant ideas just extremely inspiring to be around some ways like when I look at some papers or to talk to my collaborator I feel really fascinated and I think it's really like art it's like listening to music or seeing and amazing you know try imagining ever do all this polygonal mirrors and you put a light somewhere in the room the light won't bounce off the walls in all possible ways and the question is the user either in a dark spots in their own we kind of look at is the space of all possible shapes of all the possible rooms and this is for modular space so you think about a problem for a very long time you don't get frustrated most of the time you're stuck and she was really great dealing with that she was kind of very calm very confident and you need a lot of confidence to be able to tackle a project like this because you know you have no idea if it's gonna work even after you're sunk five years into it it still he might come up with nothing she was just still able to keep on going Miriam died tragically yeah she was 40 and it's salable I've have it a missile good ideas I think survived after many decades maybe and then those ideas could be used possibly later for complicated problems in real life together we realize a dream we saw that the whole room could be illuminated and in this Shoeless forever as well for revolutionary discoveries in the dynamics and geometry of moduli spaces including the proof of the magic wand theorem with late mario amir sakhani the breakthrough prize in mathematics is awarded to Alex askin Alex s and grew up in Russia to United States in 1982 [Applause] [Music] I'm extremely honored and humbled to receive the breakthrough prize I'm very grateful to my honor for her constant support encouragement I also like to thank my advisor Peter Salva and my friends and colleagues Howard maser an anthology and I'm deeply in depth to my late father Miriam is recording without her brilliant strength and persistence walk recognized by the Prize Committee could not have been done [Applause] and now it's our great honor to announce the beginning next year the breakthrough prize foundation will establish a new award miriam mirza connie new frontiers prize [Applause] the $50,000 award will go to a young female mathematician host whose excuse me PhD thesis shows exceptional promise it will honor the legacy of Miriam who lives on in your work Alex and is an inspiring example to mathematicians and scientists around our world [Music] [Applause] [Music] next legendary performer and four-time Grammy winner Lenny Kravitz live on National Geographic you welcome back I am here another none other than mr. Jeffrey Friedman Jeffrey congratulations you have just been awarded the prize tonight for discovering a new endocrine system through which adipose tissue signals the brain to regulate food intake it's an incredible thing and I talked about I talked about you a couple of weeks ago on my show and I wanted to personally thank you for everything you've done for anybody who's been fat shamed anyone that's been bullied anyone who's been made to feel in a negative way because of how they look I think what you've done is absolutely incredible Jeffrey Friedman everybody what a man or a legend yes you can applaud now Jeffrey I am your work will lead to the bettering of lives of millions of people who are currently struggling with obesity and as an appreciation of my thanks this is just from me to you I got you a little something just to say thank you for all your incredible work it's just from me to you and it says thank you Jeffrey for your I mean now there aren't yep getting there go for it I mean not now I've been now I see it in the light of day it doesn't feel quite so right but thank you anyway I'm gonna will this away please welcome Lenny Kravitz [Applause] [Music] we must do what's right in every situation love it do you just things were [Music] still stone [Music] [Music] we must when you see [Music] [Applause] when we return we'll honor two scientists on different continents who joined together to overthrow one of the most established dogmas and the science of life on Earth [Music] you please welcome a founder of the breakthrough prize Sergey Brin and supermodel entrepreneur and the founder of model land Tyra Banks [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] proteins are the basic building blocks of life but they can only function correctly if they take the right shape our next laureates discovered a basic mechanism that guides how proteins fold absent these fundamental molecules found in all forms of life proteins would aggregate together like a cooked egg white Pluto is a planet the earth is flat as a pancake germs could never be transmitted by touch it's just a known thing right until it isn't the curious question everything and that constant questioning is a characteristic of our next laureates and their questioning would lead to a revolution in our understanding of how life works this is like traveling back into time it was 30 years ago and and I met and we realized that we essentially worked on the same problem that time that odd and I had together was definitely once-in-a-lifetime it worked out like a dream life depends on proteins tiny machines with specific three-dimensional shapes if proteins don't fold into the right shape they can't do their jobs and conform tangles that lead to diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's it was once assumed that proteins spontaneously fold into shape without any help from the rest of the cell but art Horwich and Earl Ricardo weren't so sure what be found was pretty much against the prevailing dogma at the time there was definitely gonna be a credibility problem that these two jr. people you know who sort of came out of nowhere we're generating something that was pretty striking me took an enormous risk I deny it would have completely destroyed our scientific career if it had turned out to be wrong or which and hardl discovered that another protein with the shape of a barrel acts as a chaperone shielding and giving energy to the protein while it folds into shape it was a revolution in our understanding of one of the fundamental mechanisms of life the role of the molecular chaperone is to protect the protein chain from going into some wrong interactions if you will you could actually see the relationship between odd and myself in the same way as we helped each other and protected each other during this time of difficulties where we were uncertain about our findings to walk in and look into a dark room and see on the screen an image a 10 angstrom resolution of the folding machinery those are the indelible moments those you just carry around forever [Music] or for discovering functions of molecular chaperones in mediating protein folding and preventing protein aggregation the breakthrough prize in life sciences is awarded to Ulrich hurdle and Arthur Horowitz as a boy foolery startled at chemistry house when he performed dangerous experiments Arthur Horowitz was a ham radio operator huge dish on his parents roof to bounce signals off the moon [Applause] [Music] [Applause] what a moment discovery and life sciences probes the unknown asking questions about the mechanisms of health and disease how do proteins correctly fold into the unique three-dimensional shapes they need to perform functions like transport signaling and running chemical reactions in the warm chaotic gelly of the cell the folding proteins are at high risk of clumping up but they don't tools of genetics biochemistry and structural biology have revealed a machine and its workings that choreographed the dance of protein folding thank you mother nature for revealing your logic and beauty to us [Applause] thank you so much for this wonderful honor what began as curiosity driven research to understand a small part of the cells fascinating microcosm we now hope will help us in finding cures for neuro degeneration and other diseases to the next generation of scientists I would like to say that the excitement of discovery being your driving force every contribution counts you never know where it can take you I'm very grateful to share this amazing experience with my wonderful wife and scientific collaborator manage it thank you [Applause] our next honoree may one day be a great scientist and he's already a great science communicator the winner of the breakthrough junior challenge video competition after the break [Music] you you [Music] welcome back our next presenter is an Academy Award nominated actress who always stands out even in the movie hidden figures the goal point for each entry is 2990 miles where we want Colonel Glenn to land or 2990 max Oh forty six point three three degree I like your numbers thank you please welcome the incredible taraji P Henson and breakthrough prize founder Julian Milner [Applause] [Music] [Music] in hidden figures I was honored to help put a spotlight on a real-life hidden figure and hero NASA mathematician Catherine Johnson so it's a thrill to stand here celebrating other hidden figures scientists and mathematicians who should be the heroes to young men and women everywhere we turn that same spotlight on the next generation of budding scientists I wore my glasses to look smart yes the breakthrough honors not only the great scientists of today but also the great scientists of the future four years ago we partnered with scan Academy to set up breakthrough junior challenge a science video competition for high school kids in the last few years we've had winners from Peru Singapore India and the Philippines when I found out this year's winner was from San Mateo I decided to tell him the good news myself this is a neutrino you can't see a field um but every second each of us are bombarded by trillions of them it's an elementary particle with no electric charge and with almost zero mass it also has another name given into by physicists it goes particle the breakthrough junior challenge is about the future because single most important thing for the future of humanity is that the next generation is inspired by science dr. Jason Seifer you want the breakthrough junior challenge [Music] I've had the pleasure of knowing Jeffrey since his freshman year and we met each other because of a joint admiration for the environment from there he started the science club with the world in the state that it is we do need people like Jeffrey to go out and tackle our problems that we've created and find solutions Jeffrey is rather clever with his words and I would say he is a master communicator and I do feel like he is one of those individuals that can provide us with solutions through the use of science I was inspired by neutrinos because it's something you can't see you can't touch you can send one through a million miles of pure light in almost certainly pass straight through when Galileo became the first person in human history to point a telescope to the stars he saw the moons of Jupiter the rings of Saturn neutrino astronomy is the next step in human discovery and who knows what we'll find next it definitely feels like the beginning of something new and I'm not really sure what comes next I don't know what field of science that would go to but hopefully one day I can be part of the breakthroughs on the stage you can see how much Jeffrey loved science and in fact one of his achievements was to set up his own science club at school now as a special surprise with Jeffrey please welcome the members of the Burlingham Environmental Club Jeffrey I've always known you was a delightful ball of stress tonight you become something even better a delightful ball of stress with the trophy congratulations [Applause] for his video neutrino astronomy a new frontier the winner of the 2019 breakthrough junior challenge prize is Jeffry Jim generation has partnered with the Burlingame city government to create an annual and in his free time he also sings and performed stand-up comedy [Applause] a few years ago I could never have imagined to be standing here surrounded by such incredible minds and people I made my video on physics because my parents have biologists but also because physics like all sciences tells us the story of a universe it's amazing for me a high school student to be living in a time where the story is being told in ways that we could only imagine before and I can only hope to when they contribute to my family tell my friends and peers both here and back home and to you I promise I'll do my part for science thank you [Applause] next its Grammy winning performer and self-professed science geek will.i.am live on National Geographic [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] once again Adriana Lima there are many ways to get Fame in this world tonight we celebrate one of the best and most meaningful ways by winning the breakthrough prize here to perform Hall of Fame joined by Jay ray so a global artist with a passion for science and technology ladies and gentlemen will.i.am [Applause] come on [Music] the greatest you can beat the best need to be the King Kong banging on your chest you could beat the world [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we're under five you can walk straight ten it's topped with a smile [Music] bro [Music] country [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] teachers politicians be preachers be believers be leaders be astronauts be champions be true seekers be students be teachers be politicians be preachers be believers be leaders be astronauts be champions [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] ladies and gentlemen please be a house together for this year's breakthrough joining your major purchases his ladies [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you you

Channel: Breakthrough

Views: 81,102

Rating: 4.7333331 out of 5

Keywords: Breakthrough Prize, Oscars of Science, Mark Zuckerberg, James Corden, Karlie Kloss, Edward Norton, will.i.am, Lenny Kravitz, Tyra Banks, Sergey Brin, Taraji p henson, Allison Janney, Rachel Zhang, Priscilla Chan

Id: rOa0gRHfX20

Length: 106min 31sec (6391 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 03 2019