(FILES) Google co-founder Sergey Brin (L), in a June 27, 2012 file photo in San Francisco, and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a September 11, 2012 file photo in San Francisco. The founders of Internet rivals Google and Facebook joined forces on February 20, 2013 to back big-money prizes for research aimed at extending human life. Brin and Zuckerberg, along with their spouses, joined Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner to award 11 scientists three million USD each to launch the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. - AFP Photo

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 20, 2013 - Famed founders of Internet rivals Google and Facebook joined forces on Wednesday to back big-money prizes for research aimed at extending human life.

Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg, along with their spouses, joined Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner to award 11 scientists $3 million each to launch the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

“Priscilla and I are honored to be part of this,” Zuckerberg said.

“We believe the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences has the potential to provide a platform for other models of philanthropy, so people everywhere have an opportunity at a better future.”Art Levinson, who chairs boards at mobile device powerhouse Apple and biotechnology star Genentech, will head the non-profit foundation created to support breakthrough research.

Levinson said he believes the prize will spotlight outstanding minds in medicine and hopes it will help enhance medical innovation. Zuckerberg, Milner, and Brin's wife Anne Wojcicki will be on the foundation's board of directors. They have agreed that going forward, five annual Breakthrough prizes of $3 million each will be awarded.

“We are thrilled to support scientists who think big, take risks and have made a significant impact on our lives,” said Wojcicki, co-founder of startup 23andMe, which provides personal DNA testing services.

“These scientists should be household names and heroes in society.”Brin remarked that “curing a disease should be worth more than a touchdown”in an apparent reference to riches heaped on professional athletes such as those who play US football.

This year's Breakthrough Prize winners, many of whom targeted cancer in their research, agreed to serve on a committee to select future honorees.

“Solving the enormous complexity of human diseases calls for a much bigger effort compared to fundamental physics and therefore requires multiple sponsors to reward outstanding achievements,” Milner said of the Silicon Valley heavyweights teaming up to back the award.

Opinion

Fifty years later

Fifty years later

The nation is stuck in a repetitive cycle: striving for fair and timely polls, basic rights, and civilian empowerment.

Editorial

Healing old wounds
09 Dec, 2023

Healing old wounds

IN a development that will surely shine a spotlight on one of the darkest chapters in Pakistan’s democracy, the...
New Danish law
09 Dec, 2023

New Danish law

THE public defilement of Islamic sanctities — mainly by Islamophobic provocateurs in the West — serves no...
Elected set-up’s job
09 Dec, 2023

Elected set-up’s job

Backed by a powerful establishment, the interim government has done a fairly good job at executing IMF-mandated policies.
Privatising SOEs
Updated 08 Dec, 2023

Privatising SOEs

WHY does the government want to demolish the historic Roosevelt Hotel in New York — one of the eight properties ...
Filing returns
08 Dec, 2023

Filing returns

THE grim realities of Pakistan’s flailing efforts to ensure tax compliance often present themselves as farce....
Cost of negligence
08 Dec, 2023

Cost of negligence

ONCE again, Karachi has witnessed a tragic fire, this time engulfing a six-storey commercial-cum-residential ...