Eyes on ice: On the Nobel Prize for physics

The Nobel Prize for physics to Francis Halzen recognises a clever idea: to use the Antarctic landmass to detect one of the universe’s most elusive particles. Halzen’s efforts helped create the IceCube observatory , which went on to detect high-energy particles from astronomical sources thousands to billions of light-years away and transformed astronomy. Yet, the committee’s decision to award Halzen alone also perpetuates a deleterious tradition in how the institution has been recognising scientific achievement. The observatory consists of thousands of sensors embedded up to 2.5 kilometres beneath the South Pole, connected by cables to a laboratory aboveground. When subatomic particles called neutrinos interact with atoms in the ice, reactions lead to a small flash of light. Sensors detect and record it, allowing scientists to reconstruct the incoming neutrino’s energy and direction.