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Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Francis Halzen

Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Francis Halzen

solarist

Comments (91)

  • _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_ObservatoryMechanism 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=49655286https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation
  • 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.jpgI 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!
  • southpolesteve
    What an amazing accomplishment! I played a very tiny part in this project and went to the South Pole in 2009 to help with construction. Didn't see any neutrinos the entire time I was there though :/
  • dekhn
    I worked with a guy who worked on IceCube. He flew down to the South Pole, went all the way to the station, just to install debian for their data processing systems. I was... a bit jealous.
  • 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.
  • cgeier
    The first time in as long as I can think that a single physicist was chosen.
  • ronbenton
    Anyone else romanticize going to work at some remote location like the IceCube? Probably some escapism going on
  • jahnu
    Here's the APOD for IceCube back from 2011https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2011-february-13...
  • 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.
  • Upvoter33
    Great news for UW-Madison and all the work that went into such a forward thinking, creative scientific instrument!
  • cowang
    Absolute loved this book by Halzen and Martinhttps://archive.org/details/quarksleptonsint0000halz
  • tesnorindian
    IceCube Neutrino Observatory - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLbegYWCqkg
  • rurban
    Last years favorite finally wins it this time. https://www.rtbf.be/article/avec-icecube-le-physicien-belge-... (2025)
  • 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.
  • 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...
  • NoHedgeAllBets
    Quite rare for a it to be awarded to just one person.
  • 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?
  • omeysalvi
    Just woke up this morning to this news. Thank God. Today is a good day.
  • karlkloss
    Still no affordable antigravity? Dang.
  • fahrvrgnugen
    [dead]
  • alexx-devv
    [dead]
  • Rugscreation
    [dead]
  • dauertewigkeit
    Just happy it's not another AI related prize.
  • rator9521
    Oh, it's amazing that the AI didn't prize.
  • birdboat00
    Makes me sad, that even there we put our human stuff and Metal boxes
  • hyperionultra
    What is practical application of Francis work?