The world's richest prize for outstanding achievements in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics has teamed-up with the world's largest professional network for scientists to promote and honor excellence among the international scientific community.

The Breakthrough Prize and ResearchGate have announced a partnership today to expand opportunities to promote and honor excellence among the scientific community.

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As part of the partnership with Breakthrough Prize Foundation, which annually awards upwards of $25 million in prizes to salute outstanding achievements in science and mathematics, ResearchGate will invite its multidisciplinary network of 12 million confirmed scientists to submit nominations for the Breakthrough Prize.

ResearchGate members will be encouraged to nominate their peers for the 2018 Prizes in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences, and Mathematics that each come with a $3 million award. Nominations to the Breakthrough Prize can be submitted online through May 31, 2017.

"We're proud to partner with the Breakthrough Prize, which has become synonymous with scientific excellence. Our unique global network of experts from all fields offers a great place to find it. I can't wait to see who wins this year, and am of course rooting for our members," said Dr. Ijad Madisch, co-founder and CEO of ResearchGate.

Over 600 Nobel Laureates are ResearchGate members.

"ResearchGate is a powerful platform where scientists across the world collaborate and share in real time their latest research in physics, life sciences and mathematics," said S. Pete Worden, Chairman, Breakthrough Prize Foundation.

"We are delighted that this partnership will allow Breakthrough Prize to reach millions more in the global scientific communities to solicit their recommendations for who should be honored for truly outstanding research achievements."

On the ResearchGate network, scientists from 193 countries and all fields of science, research and mathematics connect and share their research -- current and past. The platform departs from the century-old tradition of secrecy surrounding ongoing research.

With the addition of a real-time collaboration feature in 2016, members have created close to one million joint projects in which they share their current work. While research posted on the network is free for everyone to read and download, membership is exclusive to scientists.

ResearchGate was founded in 2008 by the physicians Dr. Madisch and Dr. Sören Hofmayer, along with computer specialist Horst Fickenscher. The company's mission is to connect the world of science and make research open to all 12 million researchers that have made more than 140 million connections on the network, and share over half a million updates about their research daily.

The Breakthrough Prize was founded by Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, and Yuri and Julia Milner to celebrate achievements in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics.

The awards are presented at an annual globally televised ceremony, followed by a day of lectures and discussions co-sponsored by Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Francisco. In addition to the Breakthrough Prize, awards for junior researchers in mathematics and physics are also handed out yearly.

Select images and video from the 2017 Breakthrough Prize ceremony can be found for media use at: http://www.epklink.com/2017breakthroughprize