Reaching for the stars
Exploring space and the finding life on other planets has intrigued human beings for centuries—now, with countless scientific breakthroughs and such advanced tehcnology, we're finally able to take some pretty huge steps to uncover the mysteries of the universe.
Our October 2018 cover stars, billionaire philanthropist Yuri Milner and his wife Julia, are doing just that. Together, they founded Breakthrough Prize, which awards six prizes each year to outstanding scientists. Each award comes with a cash payment of US$3 million, nearly three times that of a Nobel Prize.
"When you look at our projects, they all assume that our planet is one: we’re looking for [alien] civilisations. And if we establish communication, I don’t think we will be telling them about our different countries. We are not going to be talking about elections. We will be talking about what makes us human," says Yuri, a former physicist turned tech mogul.
"In a thousand years we will be one world. And, by the way, a thousand years is a very short period of time in the 14-billion-year history of our universe.”
Read the cover story: Yuri And Julia Milner On Philanthropy, Science And The Search For Alien Life
