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Francis Halzen Wins Nobel Prize for Antarctic Neutrino Discovery

Francis Halzen Wins Nobel Prize for Antarctic Neutrino Discovery
Physicist Francis wins Nobel Prize for IceCube neutrino discovery · thehansindia.com

Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on studying neutrinos.

Neutrinos are tiny particles that have no electric charge and are very hard to detect.

Trillions pass through our bodies every second.

They rarely bump into other matter, so scientists need very large detectors to catch them.

Halzen proposed using Antarctic ice as part of a giant detector.

The IceCube observatory looks for tiny flashes of light made when neutrinos interact with ice.

It detected high-energy neutrinos that came from faraway galaxies.

Halzen said he was surprised by the prize and hoped it would help his research proposal.

Key facts

Award
Nobel Prize in physics
Recipient
Francis Halzen
Announcement
Tuesday; no date stated
Observatory
IceCube Neutrino Observatory
Location
Antarctica
Key finding
The observatory glimpsed the first high-energy neutrinos from faraway galaxies.
Detection method
Sensors detect flashes of light produced when neutrinos interact with ice.

Quotes

Francis Halzen

Physicist and Nobel Prize winner

“I am working on a proposal, and I hope that this prize will help getting it approved.”
thehansindia.com
“It was a great surprise, and I obviously didn't expect it.”
thehansindia.com

Michael Moloney

Chief executive officer of the American Institute of Physics

“This experiment in the Antarctic is a revolutionary way of understanding the universe that we didn't have before.”
thehansindia.com

Sources

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