The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the physics Nobel to Belgian-American physicist Francis Halzen for IceCube, the South Pole observatory that detected high-energy neutrinos from space.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday to Francis Halzen for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.
Halzen, 82, is a Belgian-born US citizen and principal investigator of IceCube at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Reuters reported that he showed pristine ice at the South Pole could track neutrinos, particles that pass through the Earth and interact with matter only rarely. BBC said he first set out the South Pole idea in 1988.
IceCube instruments a cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice with light sensors at the Amundsen-Scott station. The academy said the registered interactions give information about how high-energy particles are created. Reuters said a larger IceCube-Gen2 array, covering 8 cubic kilometres, is planned to become operational in 2033.
Halzen told a news conference he was surprised the idea worked so well and that he had been lucky, because few people, including himself, thought it would succeed. On the IceCube site he said the prize was a relief and a celebration of the collaboration. Spokesperson Erin O'Sullivan said the team was proud of the research and congratulated him.
The prize citation is for work already done. Halzen told Reuters the main results were still ahead and that it was too early to say exactly what the detector would reveal about the universe. The collaboration said it expects first science data from the IceCube Upgrade later this year.
People Sentiments Positive
- Francis Halzen said he was lucky because few people, including himself, thought the South Pole idea would work.
- He said the prize was a celebration of the IceCube collaboration.
- Erin O'Sullivan said the collaboration was proud of the research and congratulated Halzen.