Nobel Prize in Physics for Francis Halzen announced in Turin
On 4 October 2026 Belgian physicist Francis Halzen, 82, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, receives by phone in Turin the news that he has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Halzen is staying at a hotel in the Piedmontese capital, where he has come to take part in a meeting of the International Scientific Committee of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Infn). The award is given to him for the decisive contribution of the IceCube neutrino observatory and for the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin [1].
The IceCube observatory
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory was developed in 2010 by the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the South Pole, at the Amundsen-Scott station, in Antarctica. The laboratory, located deep in the ice, makes it possible to study the universe through high-energy cosmic neutrinos coming from sources that are not even known, beyond the boundaries of the Via Lattea [1].
The meeting at UniTo's Rectorate
In the days following the announcement, Halzen takes part in a press conference at the Rectorate of the Università degli Studi di Torino, in via Verdi. The meeting is attended by the rector of the University of Turin, Cristina Prandi, who says she is honoured that the news of the Nobel reached Halzen right in Turin, describing the collaboration with Infn as "fundamental, unavoidable" [1][2]. Also attending is Infn's president, Antonio Zoccoli, who stresses that the award represents "clear recognition of the importance of fundamental research" in a society focused on technology, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and how the collaboration with a scientist now a Nobel laureate confirms the high level of research carried out in Italy [2]. Halzen himself says he could not have imagined such a reaction from the city and that he could not have found himself "in a better place" [1].
Related events
A week after the announcement, on 14 October 2026, the University of Turin confers an Honorary Degree in Physics of Complex Systems on physicist Giorgio Parisi, already a Nobel laureate in Physics in 2021, at the Auditorium of the Complesso Aldo Moro, in via Sant'Ottavio [1].
Pages linking here
Related articles: Francis Halzen, IceCube Neutrino Observatory, National Institute for Nuclear Physics
Sources
- TorinoToday — 7 October 2026
- ANSA Piemonte — 7 October 2026