Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Yuri Milner Create $33 Million Breakthrough Prize For Medical Research

There are 11 annual prizes, each with a purse of $3 million, funded by the founders of Facebook and Google, along with venture capitalist Milner. The first winners will be announced today. Three of Silicon Valley's most high-profile entrepreneurs are launching a new Foundation with designs on the Nobel Prizes. The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation is to reward life-saving research with 11 annual awards, each with an individual reward of $3 million. Google's Sergey Brin and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg have teamed up with technology investor Yuri Milner, whose eponymous awards were set up last year to award breakthroughs in fundamental physics, to reward medical breakthroughs. "Young people will hopefully get the message that not only the careers in sports or entertainment can get a public recognition," Milner said. All three tycoons (tech-coons?) have personal links to life sciences--Brin is married to Anne Wojcicki, founder of genomics firm 23andMe, and who is also a co-sponsor of the awards, while Zuckerberg tied the knot with med-school graduate Priscilla Chan last year, who is aiming for a career in pediatrics. The Zuckerbergs are already known for their philan...