Nobel Prize in Physics 2026: Francis Halzen

_Microft

He receives the prize for conceiving the IceCube neutrino detector, a cubic-kilometer-sized detecter in the Antarctics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IceCube_Neutrino_Observatory Mechanism is via conversion of neutrinos into charged particles which are then detected via Cherenkov radiation which is produced when a charged particle moves with speeds larger then the speed of light in the medium. (That is only possible because it is less than the speed of light in vacuum which cannot be exceeded.) This was also discussed recently if you are interested: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49655286 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation

jahnu

Here's the APOD for IceCube back from 2011 https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2011-february-13...

cgeier

The first time in as long as I can think that a single physicist was chosen.

dauertewigkeit

Just happy it's not another AI related prize.

rurban

Last years favorite finally wins it this time. https://www.rtbf.be/article/avec-icecube-le-physicien-belge-... (2025)

omeysalvi

Just woke up this morning to this news. Thank God. Today is a good day.

JimTheMan

I'm in love with the cute little figure that came with the press release: https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2026/10/fig_fy_26_3x2.jpg I appreciate the boldness of this project, it has an element of sci-fi to it. Building a base at the south pole to bury sensors in ice to measure elusive particles. The stuff of dreams!

weinzierl

We think of receiving a Nobel Prize as something super rare and exceptional and it is. What still always astounds me though, is this: There are nearly 300 living laureates. Enough to hold a yearly meetup for them in Lindau, where usually about 40 gather. This year, for the event's 75th anniversary, there were even about 70. Imagine that.

rator9521

Oh, it's amazing that the AI didn't prize.

tesnorindian

As we celebrate the IceCube neutrino detector for wining this year Nobel Prize in Physics, people in my country India should feel lost for missing the opportunity to setup INO ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India-based_Neutrino_Observato... ) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/why-the-neu...

karlkloss

Still no affordable antigravity? Dang.

tesnorindian

IceCube Neutrino Observatory - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLbegYWCqkg

PaulHoule

Neutrino physics is the frontier. It’s one area where we know there are “physics beyond the standard model” though IceCube hasn’t quite been able to answer the neutrino mass question.

hyperionultra

What is practical application of Francis work?

Upvoter33

Great news for UW-Madison and all the work that went into such a forward thinking, creative scientific instrument!

birdboat00

Makes me sad, that even there we put our human stuff and Metal boxes

jdw64

Sometimes I think it would be nice if there were biographies that laid out when and how Nobel laureates made their discoveries. Then wouldn't it be possible to pattern how people discover certain phenomena?

yk

Pretty cool. One of the big challenges in trying neutrino detection in ice is dealing with funding agencies. The optical properties of ice only get good when you are actually a few kilometers deep in very old ice. That is you can't just build a demonstrator in the nearest glacier with a few leftover photomultipliers, you need to go directly to Antarctica and bore a three kilometer hole into the ice. And projects where the MVP is quite expensive are always very hard to get funded.

cowang

Absolute loved this book by Halzen and Martin https://archive.org/details/quarksleptonsint0000halz

NoHedgeAllBets

Quite rare for a it to be awarded to just one person.