Guwahati: Belgian-American particle physicist Francis Halzen has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for his “decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin”, the award-giving body said.
The 2026 Nobel Prize laureate in Physics, laid the foundation for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a facility at the South Pole that tracks high-energy neutrinos originating from the distant cosmos.
IceCube’s continuous detection of neutrino interactions is helping researchers study the violent environments in which high-energy neutrinos are produced and could reveal previously unknown cosmic phenomena.
High-energy cosmic neutrinos are extremely rare, requiring an enormous volume of ice to detect enough interactions. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory covers about one cubic kilometre and was completed in 2011.
Researchers soon detected the first high-energy neutrinos and, a few years later, published evidence of neutrinos originating far beyond the solar system. This opened the way for systematic searches for the sources of cosmic neutrinos.
Halzen’s idea was to use glacial ice at the South Pole to detect neutrinos, elusive particles that can travel vast cosmic distances without being easily detected. IceCube was built on that concept and has enabled scientists to track neutrinos originating in the distant universe.
Halzen, born in 1944 in Tienen, Belgium, is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States.
“It is a great pleasure to hear about this prize,” Halzen said after the Nobel Committee contacted him following the announcement.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for their work demonstrating quantum mechanical tunnelling.
The 2026 Nobel announcements began with the Physiology or Medicine prize, awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries that led to optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control selected nerve cells.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be announced on October 7, followed by the Literature prize on October 8 and the Peace prize on October 9. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on October 12.
The Nobel laureates will receive a cash award of 12 million Swedish kronor, or about 1.2 million dollars. The prizes will be presented on December 10, Nobel Prize Day and the anniversary of the death of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.
In his will, Nobel directed that his estate be used to fund prizes for those who, during the preceding year, had conferred the greatest benefit on humankind.