2026 Nobel Physics Prize Goes to Neutrino Pioneer Francis Halzen
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Tuesday in Stockholm that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Belgian-American scientist Francis Halzen for "decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin." It is the second Nobel of the 2026 season, following Monday's medicine prize.
Halzen, 82, is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1988 he first proposed using Antarctic ice as a giant detector for neutrinos, the "ghost particles" from deep space that stream through matter without a trace. He led an international team of more than 450 researchers and engineers from 58 institutions in 14 countries to build IceCube, burying thousands of light sensors two kilometers beneath the ice. When a neutrino collides with an atomic nucleus it produces a flash of blue light, letting scientists trace it back to a distant galaxy or an exploding star.
Nobel physics committee chair Mark Pearce said Halzen's tenacity and scientific vision "paved the way for a new kind of astronomy." Joining by phone from Italy, Halzen called the win "a great surprise," noting that when the project began, very few believed it would work "including myself."
The physics prize, first awarded in 1901, remains one of science's highest honors. The chemistry prize will be announced Wednesday. (Sources: Reuters, AP, CNN.)
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Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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