The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Francis Halsen won the Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of his contributions to the IceCube observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.
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The prize was announced in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, and is worth 12 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.2 million.
Halzen was born in Belgium in 1944, is 82 years old, and is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States.
Halsen had played a pivotal role in the development of the IceCube observatory, which detects neutrinos coming from distant cosmic sources, making it possible to study high-energy astronomical phenomena.
Mark Pearce, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said Halsen "led an international team of researchers and engineers who provided us with a remarkable instrument," adding that "his perseverance and scientific vision paved the way for a new kind of astronomy."
Halsen spoke to the Nobel Committee by telephone from Italy after his win was announced, saying the news was a "huge surprise," adding: "Obviously I didn't expect it."
The IceCube facility is located deep in the Antarctic ice, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the lead institution for the project. Halsen's research on neutrino detection in Antarctica dates back to the 1980s.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to scientists John Clarke, Michelle Devorette and John Martinis , in recognition of their discoveries relating to quantum mechanical tunneling at the macroscopic level and the quantization of energy in an electrical circuit.
The announcements for this year’s Nobel Prizes began on Monday with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, while the announcements will continue on Wednesday with the Chemistry Prize, on Thursday with the Literature Prize, then the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, with the Economics Prize to be announced next Monday.
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