UW Madison Scientist Wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics

Francis Halzen, a Belgium-born physicist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work using glacial ice at the South Pole to capture particles called neutrinos. He was the driving force behind establishing the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, whose telescope has enabled researchers to explore the origins of some of the mysterious particles in distant space.

Halzen, the Vilas Research Professor and Gregory Breit Professor at UW, describes himself as “a theoretician studying problems at the interface of particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.” He has been working on the IceCube project since 1987, traveling to the South Pole largely in the less cold summer months of November–February.

He was awarded the roughly $1.2 million Nobel prize “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.”

“Francis Halzen has led an international team of researchers and engineers who have provided us with a fantastic instrument. His tenacity and scientific vision has paved the way for a new kind of astronomy,” said Mark Pearce, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.