Francis Halzen wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for IceCube neutrino research
Belgian physicist Francis Halzen has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for “decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Tuesday.
Halzen, 82, is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and principal investigator of IceCube, an observatory embedded deep in Antarctic ice. The detector uses thousands of light sensors spread through a cubic kilometre of ice to record rare flashes produced when neutrinos collide with atomic nuclei.
Neutrinos are electrically neutral particles with very little mass that usually pass through matter without leaving a trace. Those arriving from distant, high-energy events can carry information about the environments that produced them. IceCube made the first detection of high-energy extraterrestrial neutrinos in 2013 …