Physics Nobel goes to Francis Halzen, who turned Antarctic ice into a neutrino telescope
A plain-language explainer of what a neutrino is and why catching one tells us about the universe.
Francis Halzen, 82, of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, won the 2026 Nobel Prize in physics for his contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos from space. Neutrinos are nearly massless particles that pass through everything; IceCube detects the rare flashes of light when one collides with matter in the ice. Halzen's work on catching neutrinos at the South Pole dates to the 1980s. "It was a great surprise and I obviously didn't expect it," he told the committee.
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IceCube Neutrino Observatory
After exploring Francis Halzen wins Nobel Prize in physics for work on high-energy neutrinos from space, for the detector itself, see IceCube Neutrino Observatory.
Built by the University of Wisconsin–Madison at the South Pole, with thousands of sensors spread through a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice.
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