The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Francis Halzen, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences secretary general Ellen Moons announced on Tuesday.

Mr Halzen won the Nobel prize for Physics for decisive contributions to the Icecube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-enerhy neutrinos of astrophysical origin, Ms Moons said.

According to Ms Moons, this year’s physics prize is about ghostly messengers from space. 

Eva Olsson, a member of the Nobel committee said Mr Halzen made a giant leap in Physics, giving credit to the Belgian professor and his co-workers.

“Francis Halzen realised that the ice at the South pole could visualise these neutrinos messengers from cosmos. People joined him in the quest for these neutrinos messengers. The messengers bring information  from cosmos, they open the door to distant galaxies and tell us about the processes of exploding stars,” Ms Olsson explained. “This prize recognises the idea and vision of Francis Halzen and all his co-workers.”

The physics prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Physics was the first prize category Alfred Nobel mentioned in his 1895 will. At the time, physics was widely regarded as the foremost scientific discipline, a view that Nobel may have shared as his own research was closely related to physics.

Michel Devoret, John Martinis and John Clarke were the physics prize winners in 2025 for their contributions to quantum mechanical tunnelling and quantised energy levels in a system big enough to be held in the hand.

Since the first Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in 1901, the prize has been awarded 119 times to 230 laureates, including five women. The youngest Physics laureate was 25, while the oldest was 96.

The Physics Prize was the second category announced this week, following the announcement of Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel as winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday.