Francis Halzen wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (NBC, KYMA) - Belgian-American particle physicist Francis Halzen won the 2026 Nobel prize in physics Tuesday.

For ground-breaking work creating an observatory to detect some of the universe's most elusive particles, high-energy neutrinos, and how they are created.

Halzen realised that ice at the South Pole could be used to track neutrinos, sometimes known as ghost particles.

For the way they pass through the earth and our bodies without a trace, and only interact with matter extremely rarely.

The neutrino interactions collected by the Icecube Observatory in Antarctica provide researchers with knowledge about how high-energy neutrinos are created.

Potentially even revealing previously unknown cosmic phenomena, the the royal Swedish academy of sciences said.

The winners of the Nobel Physics Prize are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and receive a prize sum totaling $1.2 million dollars, which is shared among the winners if there are several.