This prize isn’t too highly regarded. The physics prize has mostly consisted of string theorists giving it to their friends in the field.
> (...)
> http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=11138
> http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2019/08/special-breakthroug...
Thanks for that, because my comment applies exceedingly well to people like Peter Woit and Sabine Hossenfelder; I've never heard of Michael Banks.
[By whom?]
"The physics prize has mostly consisted of string theorists giving it to their friends in the field."
Firsty, the Breakthrough Prize is given in Life Sciences, Mathematics and Fundamental Physics. This post is about the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics.
As for Fundamental Physics, apart from 2019 (special) for supergravity, it doesn't seem to go to string theorists:
2021 Special Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- Steven Weinberg, “continuous leadership in fundamental physics, with broad impact across particle physics, gravity and cosmology, and for communicating science to a wider audience.” [0]
2021 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics -- Eric Adelberger, Jens H. Gundlach and Blayne Heckel, University of Washington. Citation: For precision fundamental measurements that test our understanding of gravity, probe the nature of dark energy, and establish limits on couplings to dark matter. [1]
2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics was awarded to all 347 members of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration representing 60 institutions in 20 countries. [2]
2019 Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- Charles Kane and Eugene Mele – University of Pennsylvania. Citation: For new ideas about topology and symmetry in physics, leading to the prediction of a new class of materials that conduct electricity only on their surface. [3]
2019 Special Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- Jocelyn Bell Burnell – University of Dundee and University of Oxford. Citation: For fundamental contributions to the discovery of pulsars, and a lifetime of inspiring leadership in the scientific community. [3]
2018 Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- WMAP experimental team. Citation: for detailed maps of the early universe that greatly improved our knowledge of the evolution of the cosmos and the fluctuations that seeded the formation of galaxies. [4]
There are some string theorists further in the past, but they still don't warrant the use of the word 'mostly'. [5]
[0] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/61
[1] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/60
[2] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/54
[3] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/47
[4] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/41
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Prize_in_Fundamen...
"One thing that strikes me about these things is that the situation with the physics prize has changed dramatically since the first three years, when they went mostly to string theorists. Having a heavily promoted much larger cash prize than the Nobel, given largely to theorists for ideas many of which haven’t worked out, raised obvious questions about the wisdom of the whole thing. The last two years have seen a 180 degree turn, with the prizes going to experimentalists for successful experimental results. Even better, there has been an unusual emphasis on making an award to entire experimental collaborations, not just a small number of “great men” identified as collaboration leaders or spokespersons. I don’t know of any other major prizes that do this. The lack of an experimental Nobel for the Higgs discovery is one reflection of that problem, it’s great that the Breakthrough Prize people are doing something about it."[0]
Basically, we have two criticized recent physics awards (2019 special and 2017) and several in the very beginning. That still doesn't qualify as 'mostly'.
Wow this is an astronomically absurd Hacker News put-down.
A little moderation on both sides on this point wouldn't go amiss.
> there has been criticism of the physics prize in the past
Those... aren't the same thing. I'm sure you could dredge up a few criticisms of the Nobel Prize in Physics as well, but would anybody say that the prize isn't highly regarded in general?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_controversies#Phys...
It was harsh, and perhaps a little out of date
> The Breakthrough Prizes are the largest prizes in science
Do they mean the prize comes with more money?