Francis Halzen wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics

Belgian-American particle physicist Francis Halzen won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics, the award-giving body announced Tuesday. It recognized his contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences selects the physics prize winners. The award carries a total of 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million), with the money divided among the winners when more than one person receives the prize.

Physics was the second Nobel award announced this year, following Monday's medicine prize announcement. Chemistry is next on Wednesday, continuing the sequence of this year's Nobel announcements.

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf presents Nobel medals to the winners at a Stockholm ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. The awards are followed by a banquet at Stockholm City Hall.

This year's Nobel Prize announcements will begin on Monday with the awarding of the medicine prize at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The medicine award opens this year's Nobel program.

The schedule continues with the physics prize on Tuesday, followed by chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. Those awards follow Monday's medicine prize.

The peace prize will be awarded on Friday. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will then be announced on Oct. 12, following the peace award.

This year's prize money is 12 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.2 million. That amount applies whether the recipient is an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

Last year's medicine winners were Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi. Their discoveries concerned peripheral immune tolerance, a pathway that keeps the immune system in check so it attacks germs rather than the body's own tissues. Experts described the findings as critical to understanding autoimmune diseases including Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

Nobel Prize announcements begin Monday with medicine award

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