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back to article Cameron Diaz covers top boffins in gold at Breakthrough Prizes

Cameron Diaz, Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Zuckerberg were among the assembled luminaries at NASA's Ames campus in Silicon Valley over the weekend – where techbiz titans and people paid to pretend to be boffins in the movies distributed $36m at the Breakthrough Prize ceremony. The money was awarded by tech luminaries on the …

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  1. DavCrav

    Science can now feel what it is like to be a footballer

    Giving a few people at the top of the game millions while the rest of the industry survives on subsistence wages is how sports normally works. Yes, they are undoubtedly extremely good, but there are tens of thousands of people that do good work in these subjects, and (in the US in particular) are often on incredibly bad wages for their trouble. But yay for giving the already-rich scientific elite a few million dollars each. It's better with them than with Zuckerberg, etc., but could have been put to better use funding a thousand fellowships for postdocs or Ph.D. students.

    6 11 Reply
    1. h4rm0ny
      Reply Icon

      Re: Science can now feel what it is like to be a footballer

      Kind of agree. Well, do agree... but it is nice to see recognition of people who progress the species and our store of knowledge, instead of eternally ranked lower than someone who kicks a ball up and down a field. Not that celebrification of Science seems especially laudable to me but the occasional role-model other than a sports-person or singer is at least useful.

      10 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Science can now feel what it is like to be a footballer

      ... as opposed to feeling what is like to be that forgotten relative that does those intellectual things no one cares about?

      Also, if Cameron Diaz is there that's enough reason to like the event.

      4 0 Reply
      1. h4rm0ny
        Reply Icon

        Re: Science can now feel what it is like to be a footballer

        >>"Also, if Cameron Diaz is there that's enough reason to like the event."

        Oh yes... You lot get Cameron Diaz and Kate Beckinsale and who do we get? Mark Zuckerburg! :(

        2 0 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
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          Happy

          Re: Science can now feel what it is like to be a footballer

          I would like to go on record as being in favor of getting just about ANYTHING from Kate Beckinsale! A tuna sandwich. Pocket lint. A smile.

          3 0 Reply
  2. David Pollard

    Publication too?

    It's all very well having a show-biz spectacle which promotes science to the masses, but how about something a bit like Mark Abrahams' Improbable Science or Edge.org's New Year Questions. Quite a few of the winners would appreciate an opportunity to explain their work to a general audience.

    Perhaps to accompany this prize-giving there could be a lecture set and a collection of articles where the recipients explain something of the work behind each prize. Low-budget lectures might not suit everyone, but it would be better than Horizon.

    4 0 Reply
    1. Efros
      Reply Icon

      Re: Publication too?

      Lately, i.e for the last 5 years, watching Horizon has been about as enjoyable and educational as watching belly button fluff accumulate.

      3 0 Reply
    2. DavCrav
      Reply Icon

      Re: Publication too?

      "Perhaps to accompany this prize-giving there could be a lecture set and a collection of articles where the recipients explain something of the work behind each prize. "

      Nice idea. I'd like to see Jacob Lurie explain infinity-categories for a general audience. I might even pay to see that.

      0 0 Reply
  3. Rob 5

    So Hangar One is "open" again?

    I got to go inside it, years ago, but later read that it had been closed, due to Asbestos or something.

    Nice to see that it's back in use, in some way.

    0 0 Reply
  4. squigbobble

    Not so esoteric

    "Alim-Louis Benabid, Joseph Fourier University, for the discovery and pioneering work on the development of high-frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS), which has revolutionized the treatment of Parkinson’s disease."

    My dad had one of the first DBS units implanted in the UK (he was in a clinical trial) and it gave him about another 8 years of mobility.

    11 0 Reply
  5. sqlartist

    Anyone know if.....?

    •Alim-Louis Benabid, Joseph Fourier University, for the discovery and pioneering work on the development of high-frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS), which has revolutionized the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

    does this work also apply for Cluster Headaches. I am currently waiting for DBS but it remains un funded.

    0 0 Reply

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