Iranian scientist wins Breakthrough Foundation Regular Prize

Tehran, Dec 10, IRNA – Iranian Scientist Cumrun Vafa together with two other scientists received the Breakthrough Prizes given in Science and Math, Western media reported. According to New York Times, the regular Breakthrough prize this year was given to a trio of theorists who have made serious advances in string theory, the alleged but still unproven theory of everything, and what it might mean for black holes and the universe. 'They are Andrew Strominger and Cumrun Vafa from Harvard, and Joseph Polchinski of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara', the US newspaper wrote. 'According to string theory, all the forces and particles of nature are composed of tiny little wriggling strings'. Vafa has been doing researches and teaching in Harvard University for more than 30 years. 'The biggest prize payday in science came around again on December 4 when the Breakthrough Foundation handed out more than $25 million in its annual prizes to more than a thousand physicists, life scientists and mathematicians'. The Breakthrough Foundation was founded by Sergey Brin of Google; Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe; Jack Ma of Alibaba and his wife, Cathy Zhang; Yuri Milner, an internet entrepreneur, and his wife, Julia Milner; and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and his wife, Priscilla Chan. 1378/IRNA