Mathematicians Flustered by Big Cash Prizes

The first winners of the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics have been announced.

Financed by Russian Yuri Milner and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the prize rewards mathematicians who have made major advances in the field with $3 million each.

The inaugural winners are Maxim Kontsevich (Institute of Advanced Scientific Studies), Terence Tao (UCLA), Jacob Lurie (Harvard), Simon Donaldson (Stony Brook University and Imperial College London), and Richard Taylor (Institute for Advanced Study).

Read the New York Times' coverage.