Sawt Falasteen - Hollywood, Silicon Valley turn out for the 'Oscars of Science'

The awards, co-founded by philanthropists and tech entrepreneurs, recognize the research achievements of leading scientists around the world in three broad categories: Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics.

"These are some of the most heroic and inspiring people we get in the world," actor Edward Norton told AFP.

According to the "American History X" star, it was important to turn out and "to highlight what this kind of work contributes to all of us."

"The United States has the most anti-science administration in US history," the actor said. "It's always important, but if it was ever especially important, the moment is now."

In the last year, the Trump administration has slashed funding for science, halting projects and devastating workforces.

Rock climber Alex Honnold agreed with Norton, adding that he hoped the fluctuations "of the political climate... are short-term compared to the long-term effort required to make these kind of gains in human knowledge."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the collaboration between his company's artificial intelligence technology and some of the award-winning scientists "is moving things faster and faster, and letting them discover new things and bring them to the world faster than they could before."

"Change this fast is really disorienting. So there will be a lot of big questions that we'll have to sort through as a society," Altman told AFP.

The Breakthrough Foundation was started by Google co-founder Sergey Brin; Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan; science patrons Julia and Yuri Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe.

Six prizes worth $3 million each were presented at the 12th edition of the awards.

French mathematician Frank Merle was honored for his work on nonlinear equations describing the behavior of waves, fluids and other systems.

Merle told AFP the funding is "essential" for science.

"Science is one of the foundations of our civilization," he said.

Hollywood A-listers Ben Affleck, Lily Collins, Robert Downey Jr., Gigi Hadid, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Gal Gadot, Naomi Watts and her husband, Billy Crudup, also attended the event, alongside public figures like Bill Gates and Paris Hilton.

E.Aziz--SF-PST