Breakthrough Prize Announces Celebrity and Special Guests Paying Tribute To Distinguished Scientists

The Breakthrough Prize will honor top achievements in the fields of physics, life sciences and mathematics, with a star-studded ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 3, at the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. The ceremony, to be broadcast live at 10pm ET/7pm PT on NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, will be hosted by Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman, host of the network's series "The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman."

For the first time, the show will be streamed live on the Facebook and YouTube platforms of Breakthrough Prize (Breakthrough Facebook | Breakthrough YouTube) and National Geographic (National Geographic Facebook | National Geographic YouTube). The ceremony will be directed and produced, for the fifth time, by Don Mischer, alongside executive producers Charlie Haykel and Juliane Hare of Don Mischer Productions.

The ceremony will feature a performance by multi-platinum selling hip hop artist and entrepreneur Wiz Khalifa with musician Nana Ou-Yang. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard, actress Mila Kunis, actor and investor Ashton Kutcher, and critically acclaimed actress and producer Kerry Washington will serve as presenters. Howard, Kunis, Kutcher, and Washington will be joined by former NFL player and mathematician John Urschel, and Miss USA 2017 Kára McCullough, who will also present.

The Breakthrough Prize ceremony is presented by co-founders Sergey Brin (Google), Yuri Milner (DST Global) and Julia Milner, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Priscilla Chan (Chan Zuckerberg Initiatives), and Anne Wojcicki (23andMe), along with Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.

Now in its sixth year, Silicon Valley's Breakthrough Prize - the world's richest science prize - will honor paradigm-shifting research and discovery in the fields of fundamental physics, life sciences and mathematics. Across all categories for this year, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation will award $22 million to honor outstanding career achievement and emerging talent. This year, a total of seven $3 million prizes will be awarded - five in life sciences, one in fundamental physics, two in mathematics. Additionally, six New Horizons in Physics and Mathematics Prizes of $100,000 will be awarded to early-career scientists. The ceremony will also recognize the winner of the third annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge for students, which will award a $250,000 scholarship to a student whose original science video brings to life an important scientific or mathematical idea or principle. The science teacher who inspired the winning student will win $50,000, and the winner's school will also receive a state-of-the-art science lab valued at $100,000.

About Breakthrough Prize

For the sixth year, the Breakthrough Prizes will recognize the world's top scientists. Each prize is $3 million and presented in the fields of Life Sciences (up to five per year), Fundamental Physics (up to one per year) and Mathematics (up to one per year). In addition, up to three $100,000 New Horizons in Physics and up to three New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes are given out to early-career researchers each year. Laureates attend a televised awards ceremony designed to celebrate their achievements and inspire the next generation of scientists. As part of the ceremony schedule, they also engage in a program of lectures and discussions. The Breakthrough Prizes were founded by Sergey Brin, Yuri and Julia Milner, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, and Anne Wojcicki. Selection Committees composed of previous Breakthrough Prize laureates choose the winners.

Information on the Breakthrough Prizes is available at www.breakthroughprize.org.

About Don Mischer Productions

Don Mischer Productions (DMP) is an internationally acclaimed and universally respected production firm of television and live events. Led by Don Mischer and Charlie Haykel, along with Juliane Hare, DMP has consistently produced programs that share the best of the human experience, whether it be the work of our most acclaimed artists or the celebration of our most cherished monuments and greatest international events. They also always sit at the forefront of their craft, with an eye to innovate and advance the art form.

Some of their marquee productions include "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial"; "The Kennedy Center Honors"; an astonishing 14 Primetime Emmy Awards broadcasts; Super Bowl halftime shows (Prince, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen, among others); the Opening Ceremonies of both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games; and the 83rd, 84th and 85th Academy Awards. Other productions include the groundbreaking "Breakthrough Prize" and specials with Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Bono, Prince, Rihanna, Stevie Wonder and Barbara Streisand, among others.

About National Geographic Partners LLC

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 129 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the non-profit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

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