STOCKHOLM, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Belgian-American Particle physicist Francis Halzen won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for "decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin", the award-giving body said on Tuesday.
The winners of the Nobel physics prize are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and receive a prize sum totalling 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million), which is shared among the winners if there are several.
The Nobel Prizes were established under the will of Swedish inventor and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel, whose fortune was built in part on the invention of dynamite. First awarded in 1901, the prizes honour achievements in science, literature and peace, with the economics award added later by Sweden's central bank.
Physics occupied a prominent place in Nobel's will and the prize remains one of the discipline's highest distinctions. Over the decades it has recognised discoveries that have fundamentally reshaped humanity's understanding of the universe.
Among past laureates are some of the most celebrated figures in science, including Albert Einstein, Marie and Pierre Curie, Max Planck and Niels Bohr, whose work helped establish the foundations of modern physics.
Last year's physics prize was awarded to US-based scientists John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for experiments that demonstrated the principles of quantum physics in action, research seen as helping to advance the next generation of computing and other digital technologies.
The award was the second of this year's Nobels to be unveiled, following Monday's medicine prize announcement, with chemistry next on Wednesday.
Nobel medals are presented to the winners by Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf at a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. The awards are followed by an elaborate banquet at Stockholm City Hall.
The peace prize, the only Nobel not presented in Sweden, is awarded separately in Oslo.
($1 = 10.0329 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Niklas Pollard, Marie Mannes and Johan Ahlander in Stockholm; additional reporting by Simon Johnson, Anna Ringstrom and Greta Rosen Fondahn in Stockholm, and Terje Solsvik in Oslo; Editing by Alex Richardson and Kevin Liffey)
