Mathmeticians are getting some love from two of the world's top tech biz leaders.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and Yuri Milner, a Russian entrepreneur and venture capitalist whose investments have included Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Spotify, ZocDoc, Groupon, 360Buy.com, have announced a new $3 million award in mathematics.

The details of the new prize still need to be revealed.

The new math award will be part of the annual Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics and Life Sciences program, co-founded by Zuckerberg, Milner and a small group of others in an attempt to generate public interest in science.

"Einstein said, 'Pure mathematics is the poetry of logical ideas.' It is in this spirit that Mark and myself are announcing a new Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics," Milner said. "The work that the Prize recognizes could be the foundation for genetic engineering, quantum computing or Artificial Intelligence; but above all, for human knowledge itself."

Zuckerberg said in a released statement that the $3 million math award is an expansion of the annual $3 million given to researchers who have made discoveries that extend human life, the largest such award given in the sciences. Nobel Prize winners in science, for example, are each win or sharing $1.2 million.

After receiving the prize, winners are expected to give public lectures and participate in a committee to determine future winners.

"The Breakthrough Prize is our effort to put the spotlight on these amazing heroes. Their work in physics and genetics, cosmology, neurology and mathematics will change lives for generations and we are excited to celebrate them," said Zuckerberg.

The Breakthrough Prize effort to promote the pursuit and sharing of knowledge was not limited to the prize ceremony.

Two Breakthrough Prize symposiums were held Dec. 13: one at Stanford University on the Future of Fundamental Science, and the other at the University of California, San Francisco, on the Future of the Biological Sciences.

The names of the 2014 Breakthrough Prize winners in Fundamental Physics and Life Sciences were unveiled Dec. 13 at an exclusive ceremony at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA, with a total of $21 million prize awards.

The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics recognizes transformative achievements in the field of fundamental physics, while the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences recognizes excellence in research aimed at curing intractable diseases and extending human life.

Said Art Levinson, the chairman of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation: "We are honored to recognize such an outstanding group of scientists as this year's Breakthrough Prize Laureates. We are sure they will continue to push back the boundaries of knowledge in the years to come."