{"id":7224,"date":"2026-10-06T12:40:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7224"},"modified":"2026-10-06T12:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:40:03","slug":"francis-halzen-wins-nobel-prize-in-physics-for-work-on-ghost-particles-science-and-technology-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=7224","title":{"rendered":"Francis Halzen wins Nobel Prize in Physics for work on \u2018ghost particles\u2019 | Science and Technology News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Belgian physicist worked to build Antarctic observatory that tracks neutrinos from deep space.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Published On 6 Oct 2026<\/span>6 Oct 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Belgian physicist Francis Halzen has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for creating a giant detector in Antarctica that captures neutrinos, the so-called \u201cghost particles\u201d from space that scientists believe offer clues to how the universe evolved.<\/p>\n

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prestigious award in Stockholm on Tuesday, crediting Halzen with a central role in building the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.<\/p>\n

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The neutrino interactions collected by the observatory provide information about how high-energy neutrinos are created and may even reveal previously unknown phenomena, the Academy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great surprise, and I obviously didn\u2019t expect it,\u201d Halzen said, speaking to the committee by phone from Italy, in a call broadcast at the news conference to announce the winner.<\/p>\n

The 82-year-old said it was predicted before that he would win the Nobel Prize, but the announcement still made him feel \u201cstrange\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am working on a proposal, and I hope that this prize will help getting it approved,\u201d he said to chuckles from the audience.<\/p>\n

\u2018Information from the cosmos\u2019<\/h2>\n

Neutrinos have nearly no mass and carry no electric charge, so they can cross between planets, stars and human bodies without being altered, making them rare and hard to catch. There are roughly 100 trillion solar and cosmic neutrinos that pass through our bodies every second.<\/p>\n

Halzen first proposed the IceCube project in 1988, realising that the clear ice beneath the South Pole could act as a detector, so on the rare occurrence a neutrino strikes an atomic nucleus, it gives off a flash of light that buried sensors can record.<\/p>\n

Richard Fitzgerald, editor-in-chief of Physics Today, said although hundreds of people built the observatory, it \u201call started with one person\u201d, noting that the physics prize has rarely gone to one sole winner in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople joined him in the quest for these neutrino messengers. The messenger is bringing information from cosmos,\u201d committee member Eva Olsson said during the news conference. \u201cThey opened the door to distant galaxies and tell us about the processes of exploding stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eva Lindroth, a researcher in Stockholm and a member of the Nobel Committee, told Al Jazeera that Halzen\u2019s observatory has helped scientists understand high-energy particles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nice thing with neutrinos is that they come straight at us,\u201d she said. \u201cThat way we can ultimately understand these sources of high-energy particles and understand more about how things in the universe, like how galaxies are formed and the roles of the black holes in that process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives a new way to study the universe,\u201d Lindroth added. \u201cThey give us information which we cannot get in any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s award went to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for experiments on quantum physics.<\/p>\n

On Monday,<\/a> the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to two American scientists for discoveries that helped explain how the brain works.<\/p>\n

The next award will be the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which will be announced on Wednesday in Stockholm.<\/p>\n

Nobel laureates will receive their awards in a ceremony on December 10, marking the anniversary of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, who established the award; members of the royal families of Sweden and Norway will be in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Belgian physicist worked to build Antarctic observatory that tracks neutrinos from deep space. Published On 6 Oct 20266 Oct 2026 Belgian physicist Francis Halzen has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for creating a giant detector in Antarctica that captures neutrinos, the so-called \u201cghost particles\u201d from space that scientists believe offer clues to how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t