Nobel Physics Prize Goes to Scientist Who Hunted ‘Ghost Particles’ in Antarctic Ice
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Belgian-American physicist Francis Halzen for his decades-long pursuit of neutrinos, the near-massless subatomic particles that astronomers have nicknamed “ghostly messengers” because they travel across the universe largely undisturbed.
Halzen, 82, received the honour for his pioneering contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a vast detector buried in the Antarctic ice near the South Pole. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences credited him with opening up an entirely new way of observing the cosmos, describing the award as recognition of work that helped scientists detect high-energy neutrinos originating from violent astrophysical events far beyond our galaxy.
What makes neutrinos special
Unlike light or other particles, neutrinos pass through matter almost undisturbed, rarely interacting with anything in their path. That makes them notoriously difficult to detect, but also uniquely valuable: because they do not change direction or lose energy on their journey, they carry information about cosmic events that cannot be obtained through any other method.
To catch even a handful of these elusive particles, researchers needed an enormous detection area. Halzen’s solution, first proposed in 1988, was to use a full cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice embedded with sensitive light detectors. The idea was tested through the 1990s and early 2000s before the IceCube Observatory was finally completed in 2011, more than two decades after it was conceived.
A surprise call from Oslo
Speaking to reporters by telephone shortly after the announcement, Halzen said he had not expected to win. “It was a great surprise, and I obviously didn’t expect it,” he said, adding that much of his satisfaction came from seeing recognition extend to the wider team that built the project from scratch. “The main pleasure of it, besides winning the Nobel Prize, is that I hope this reflects on the really courageous people who joined me in the beginning,” he said.
Born in Tienen, Belgium, Halzen is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the United States, where he holds citizenship. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever congratulated him publicly, noting he is only the second Belgian to win a Nobel in physics and the 11th Belgian Nobel laureate overall.
Could neutrinos carry alien messages?
Asked whether high-energy neutrinos might one day reveal signals from distant civilisations, Halzen acknowledged the idea has circulated in scientific circles but was quick to dismiss it as a current research priority. “It has been speculated that this would be an ideal way to communicate with aliens. But I don’t think I will go there. I think we have enough realistic problems to deal with right now,” he said.
Part of a bigger Nobel week
The physics prize follows Monday’s medicine award, which went jointly to American psychiatrist and neurologist Karl Deisseroth and German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their work on optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control nerve activity.
- Last year’s physics prize went to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for advances in quantum mechanics underpinning modern digital devices
- The chemistry prize follows this week
- The literature prize is due on Thursday
- The closely watched peace prize will be announced on Friday
- The economics prize rounds off the season on 12 October
Each Nobel Prize includes a diploma, a gold medal and a 12-million-kronor (roughly R2.3 million) cash award, shared among laureates where more than one winner is named in a category. This year’s recipients will formally receive their prizes at a ceremony in December, marking the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish scientist who established the awards in his will.
Source: Nobel physics prize honours work on ‘ghostly messengers’ from outer space — eNCA