Breakthrough Prize Ceremony: Scientists and Stars Come Together | The Hollywood Reporter

Clifford Brangwynne, left, and Anthony Hyman were teaching in the 2008 MBL Physiology course when they first observed condensates forming in cells. Credits: Dee Sullivan, Breakthrough Prize

Robert Downey Jr., Gal Gadot and John Legend helped to celebrate scientists, including Clifford Brangwynne and Anthony Hyman for discoveries seeded at MBL, as $15.75 million prizes were awarded.

The , which honors “scientists changing the world” with sizable cash prizes, came to Hollywood for the first time on Saturday night, having previously been held in San Francisco —and the world’s top innovators were surrounded by more stars than one can see in a telescope.

The ninth edition of the event —which was founded and is financially supported by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and , Julia Milner and Yuri Milner and Anne Wojcicki, and has come to be known as “the Oscars of science” —took place on the open-air roof of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

James Corden hosted, as has been the case in previous years; presenters included Kristen Bell, Lily Collins, Danny DeVito, Robert Downey Jr. (alongside Zuckerberg), Gal Gadot, Ashton Kutcher, Brie Larson, Edward Norton, Leslie Odom Jr., Chris Pine and Chloe Zhao; John Legend and will.i.am performed; and audience members included Christina Aguilera, Vin Diesel, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mila Kunis, Lionel Richie and Maria Sharapova.

But the real toasts of the night were the scientists.