In response to the comments about whether this would provide incentive to those that would practice science, I would argue that it's probably not the point. Rat

In response to the comments about whether this would provide incentive to those that would practice science, I would argue that it's probably not the point. Rather, it rewards those who think big and encourages risk-taking, both qualities that are not necessarily associated with the biological sciences, where incremental success is the norm. Quoting Milner: "With the mapping of the genome sequence there are expectations of significant progress in the next 10 or 20 years so I think the timing is really appropriate to create an incentive for the best scientific minds" [1]. In other words, with a timeframe of 10-20 years, you're talking about people already in science. To get up to this level in 10 years, you'd have to be pretty damn brilliant. Personally, I look at this like some icing on an already delicious cake, and cements my commitment to a strategy to fill in some huge gaps in biological knowledge within the next 5-10 years. [1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/20/breakthrough-prize-silicon-valley-entrepreneurs http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/20/breakthrough-p...