Tech heavy hitters, celebrities bet science can fend off Trump

At an exclusive awards ceremony Sunday in Silicon Valley, scientists, tech executives, movie stars and athletes said they hope science will help bring facts back to many dinner table conversations.

The Breakthrough Prize, now in its fifth year, recognized the achievements of 21 scientists from all over the world in the fields of fundamental physics, life sciences and mathematics. The awards were established by Google co-founder Sergey Brin; 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki; Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan; and venture capitalist Yuri Milner.

A total of $25 million was awarded and a few of the honorees took home $3 million each -- more than triple the amount of a Nobel Prize. The ceremony was held at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

At the event, there was a confidence in the air that the Breakthrough Prize held more significance now, after the election of Donald Trump as US president. Attendees said they believe the promotion of scientific research will help dispel claims that science is wrong on things like climate change.

"We are very lucky to have people at the caliber of Mark and Priscilla, Yuri and Julia [Milner], and Anne and Sergey that support this wonderful venture," said Cumrun Vafa, a professor of physics at Harvard University. He won an award for his work in quantum field theory, string theory and quantum gravity. "They are supporting science to give that message to young people that science is something to be taken seriously. And this is particularly important at this time where the value of science is sometimes challenged."

Not mincing any words, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said "these awards are important now more than ever" since the president-elect "doesn't believe in science."

"The Fast and the Furious" producer and actor Vin Diesel weighed in on how he believes the scientific community will be alright in the long run.

"No, I'm not that concerned," he said. "I feel that as a people -- and not as a nation, but as a world -- we will protect our world and we'll pay the necessary attention to the progression of science."

Hollywood producer and film executive Harvey Weinstein said he could talk for hours about the president-elect's views on science. But he decided to be more succinct as he chimed in about Trump from the red carpet.

"Let's see what happens. I'm going to keep an open mind," Weinstein said. When asked if he had a message for Trump, he replied: "Come to the science awards."

Among the other tech, music, movie and sports stars in attendance were: Google CEO Sundar Pichai, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe, Box CEO Aaron Levie, venture capitalist Bill Maris, astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly, Morgan Freeman, Alicia Keys, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Vin Diesel, Kevin Durant, Dev Patel, Alex Rodriguez and Will.i.am.

2017 Breakthrough Prize Winners:

Life Sciences ($3 million award each)

• Stephen J. Elledge
• Harry F. Noller
• Roeland Nusse
• Yoshinori Ohsumi
• Huda Yahya Zoghbi

Fundamental Physics ($3 million award split)

• Joseph Polchinski
• Andrew Strominger
• Cumrun Vafa

Mathematics ($3 million award)

Jean Bourgain

New Horizons in Physics Prize ($100,000 award each)

• Asimina Arvanitaki
• Peter W. Graham
• Surjeet Rajendran
• Simone Giombi
• Xi Yin
• Frans Pretorius

New Horizons in Mathematics Prize ($100,000 award each)

• Mohammed Abouzaid
• Hugo Duminil-Copin
• Benjamin Elias
• Geordie Williamson

International Breakthrough Junior Challenge Prize ($400,000 total: $250,000 scholarship, $50,000 for their teacher, and $100,000 for their school.)

• Antonella Masini, 18 (Peru)
• Deanna See, 17 (Singapore)

2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (awarded in May, the founders share $1 million and the team members share $2 million)

Founders Kip Thorne, Rainer Weiss, Ronald Drever and team members of LIGO