Book Yuri Milner

Yuri Milner is an Israeli entrepreneur, investor and physicist who has become a major patron of fundamental science. Trained in theoretical physics at Moscow State University, where he graduated in 1985, he worked at the Lebedev Physical Institute and, as a doctoral candidate, befriended physicist and human rights champion Andrei Sakharov. In 1990 he was the first Soviet citizen who had not emigrated to travel to America to earn a MBA at the Wharton School, and he later returned to deliver Wharton's 2017 commencement address. After working at the World Bank in Washington as a banking specialist in the early 1990s, he moved into business, co-founding and chairing the internet company Mail.Ru Group, later known as VK, and founding the global investment firm DST Global. His philanthropy is anchored by the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics and the New Horizons in Mathematics Prize, which celebrate scientists with high-profile awards. He also founded the Breakthrough Initiatives, including Breakthrough Listen, a search for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth. Milner brings a rare blend of scientific training, technology investing and big-picture curiosity.