Breakthrough Prize for Indian physicist

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Indian American physicist Surjeet Rajendran was among the more than 20 honorees recognized At the fifth annual Breakthrough Prizes awards banquet, in San Francisco.on December 4.

The 2017 prize winners, recognized for top achievements in life sciences, fundamental physics and mathematics, were announced by founders Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

Rajendran, physics professor at U.C. Berkeley, was honored with a New Horizons in Physics Prize, which recognizes achievements of early-career physicists and mathematicians. For the honor, he was awarded $100,000.

Each of the Breakthrough Prizes in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and in Mathematics is worth $3 million, the largest individual monetary prize in science.

Among the presenters at the event included actor Dev Patel, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, actor Vin Diesel and professional basketball player Kevin Durant, among others.