Morgan Freeman hosted the Breakthrough Awards on Sunday Steve Jennings/Getty

Science’s richest prizes, the Breakthrough Awards, were presented at a star-studded ceremony in California last night. Seven prizes, each worth $3 million, were awarded to a total of 34 scientists and mathematicians in three categories — fundamental physics, life sciences and mathematics.

In physics, the big cash went to the 27 members of the team that mapped the temperature of cosmic microwave background using NASA’s WMAP satellite. The pattern of hot and cold spots in this radiation leftover from the big bang 13.7 billion years ago has advanced …