Nobel Prize in Physics 2026: Francis Halzen wins for pioneering a new type of astronomy

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics to a Belgian researcher based in the US for opening up a new way of observing the universe and enabling scientists to use high-energy neutrinos as cosmic messengers to probe some of the most extreme astrophysical environments.

The Nobel Assembly announced on 05/10/2026 that the Nobel Prize in Physics would be awarded to Francis Halzen at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm on 10/12/2026. The prize is worth SEK 12 million (€1m).

Francis Halzen pioneered a new form of astronomy by proposing the use of Antarctic ice to detect neutrinos from distant regions of the Universe. Neutrinos with extremely high energies are created in the same environments as other types of particles. However, unlike other…