Ice Cube receives Nobel Prize for neutrino observation in Antarctica - Physics Prize, Chiba University also participates

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on the 6th that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics will be awarded to Professor Francis Hultzen (82) of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led the international collaboration project ``IceCube'' to observe elementary particle neutrinos in the Antarctic. A research team from Chiba University is also participating in the project.

The reason for the award was "for his decisive contribution to Ice Cube and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos."

The project uses a facility with approximately 5,000 detectors buried in the ice at the South Pole to observe extremely high-energy neutrinos coming from space. Participants from Japan include Professor Shigeru Yoshida and Professor Yasuno Ishihara of Chiba University.

In 1988, Professor Hartzen proposed the idea of ​​using Antarctica's deep ice sheet as a detector and led the project.

The award ceremony will be held in Stockholm on December 10th. A prize of 12 million Swedish kronor (approximately 180 million yen) will be awarded.