Photo caption: The IceCube Lab under the stars – 2013. Credit: Felipe Pedreros, IceCube/NSF
A team of researchers from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) has contributed to an international scientific collaboration whose pioneering work has been recognised with the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The prestigious award was announced on 6 October, with Belgian-born physicist Professor Francis Halzen, from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, recognised for his contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos from space.
UC School of Physical and Chemical Sciences Professor Jenni Adams leads the University's involvement in IceCube, an extraordinary scientific project buried deep beneath the Antarctic ice at the South Pole.
Neutrinos are tiny, electrically neutral particles that can travel vast distances through space, passing through planets and even our bodies almost without a trace.
IceCube is the world's largest neutrino detector, using thousands of light sensors embedded in a cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice to observe some of the universe's most mysterious particles.
Because they rarely interact with matter, they are incredibly difficult to detect. But that same quality makes them valuable messengers, carrying information from some of the most extreme environments in the universe.
IceCube has helped scientists trace high-energy neutrinos to active galaxies powered by supermassive black holes, providing new evidence about the origins of cosmic rays and opening up new ways to study the universe.
The Nobel Prize recognises Professor Halzen's vision and leadership in developing IceCube, but Professor Adams says the achievement also demonstrates the extraordinary power of international scientific collaboration.
The award is a proud moment for UC's researchers, whose contributions to the international IceCube collaboration are helping advance humanity's understanding of the universe.
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