The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2026 physics Nobel to Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin–Madison for leading IceCube, the South Pole detector that found high-energy neutrinos from space.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Tuesday awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics to Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin–Madison for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.
Halzen, a Belgian-born physicist who is a U.S. citizen, proposed using Antarctic ice to detect neutrinos, particles that rarely interact with matter. IceCube instruments a cubic kilometre of ice at the South Pole with light sensors. The Academy said the prize is 12 million Swedish kronor.
Mark Pearce, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said Halzen led an international team that built an instrument opening a new kind of astronomy. Reuters reported Halzen is 82. Halzen told a news conference he was surprised the idea worked so well and that many, including himself, had doubted it would.
IceCube’s rare interaction signals carry clues to where high-energy neutrinos are produced, including violent cosmic processes ordinary telescopes cannot easily see. An extension, IceCube-Gen2, covering about 8 cubic kilometres, is planned to become operational in 2033 and to detect roughly 10 times as many neutrinos, Reuters reported.
Halzen said the main results of the work are still ahead and that it is too early to say exactly what the observatory will reveal about the universe. The award was announced in Stockholm on 6 October 2026.
People Sentiments Positive
- Halzen said he was lucky the project worked when few, including himself, thought it would.
- Pearce credited Halzen’s leadership with providing a new astronomical instrument.