Francis Halzen wins Nobel Prize in Physics for IceCube
Francis Halzen has won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the IceCube observatory, a cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice that detects high-energy neutrinos from space.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Professor Francis Halzen, a Belgian scientist, has won this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, an ambitious particle detector buried deep beneath the ice at the South Pole.
The observatory uses a cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice fitted with thousands of sensors. These are drilled up to two and a half kilometres below the surface. When a neutrino interacts with one of the billions of ice molecules, it produces a faint flash of light that a sensor can pick up.
High-energy neutrinos are subatomic particles that arrive from space. They are formed in the birth and death of stars and galaxies, but they are extremely difficult to find. IceCube has caught snapshots of neutrinos inside the ice. Experiments at the observatory have mapped parts of the distant cosmos that are impossible to see any other way.
Halzen came up with the idea for what is now the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica. The Nobel Committee said his ideas, and the work of his colleagues, had paved the way for a new kind of astronomy. Halzen said he was grateful to his colleagues. He said: 'When no really respectable conservative physicist would have joined me, but many talented people did.'
The award places the search for ghost-like particles from space at the centre of this year's physics prize. IceCube's sensors turn a cubic kilometre of polar ice into a detector for some of the most elusive signals in the universe.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Reported by all 2 channels | ||
| Francis Hudson was awarded science's top honour for his work at the South Pole's Ice Cube Observatory, involving decades hunting ghost particles in Antarctic ice and being credited with paving the way for a new kind of astronomy. | ||
| Only on one channel | ||
| Francis Halzen conceived the IceCube Observatory, which uses a cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice with detectors to detect faint flashes of light from neutrino interactions. | Not reported by Channel 5 | |
| High-energy neutrinos are subatomic particles formed during the birth and death of stars and galaxies. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
5 News gave the Nobel Prize a short mention near the end of its lunchtime bulletin, after a longer report on a rape and sexual assault trial. It framed the award around a scientist who spent decades hunting invisible ghost particles in Antarctic ice and said his vision paved the way for a new kind of astronomy. The transcript names the winner as Francis Hudson rather than Halzen and gives no detail on the detector's design or the neutrino science.
- “a scientist who spent decades hunting invisible ghost particles in antarctic ice has bagged the nobel prize in physics”
- “francis hudson was awarded science's top honor for his work at the south pole's ice cube observatory”
- “his scientific vision is said to have paved the way for a new kind of astronomy”
BBC ONE West's first bulletin treated the Nobel Prize as a brief straight news item. It focused on the award to Professor Francis Halzen, described as a US space scientist, and on the IceCube detector's location and purpose. It did not include the science correspondent explainer or Halzen's reaction that appeared in the later bulletin.
- “this year's Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to the u.s. Space scientist professor Francis Halzen”
- “Professor Halzen came up with the idea for what is now known as the IceCube Observatory”
- “The Nobel Committee said Francis Halzen's ideas had paved the way for a new kind of astronomy”
This bulletin gave the fullest treatment, using a science correspondent to explain neutrinos and the IceCube observatory. It described Halzen as a Belgian scientist, detailed the one cubic kilometre ice array and its sensors, and included his reaction to the award. It also stressed that the observatory had mapped parts of the distant cosmos and that the Nobel Committee said Halzen and colleagues had opened a new kind of astronomy.
- “High-energy neutrinos are messengers from space subatomic particles that are formed in the birth and death of stars and galaxies”
- “The Belgian scientist came up with the idea for what is now the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica”
- “When no really respectable conservative physicist would have joined me, but many talented people did”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.