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Halzen, 26 Nobel Prize in Physics Winner, to Provide Keynote Address at AAPT 2027 Winter Meeting

Francis Halzen, 2026 Nobel Winner, to Address Physics Educators at AAPT 2027 Winter Meeting

Halzen received his Master’s and PhD degrees from what is now KU Leuven, Belgium, and has been on the physics faculty at UW–Madison since 1972; in 2021, Halzen was named a Vilas Research Professor. He has been a fellow of the American Physical Society since 1994 and was awarded their APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research in 2026, is a member of the National Academy, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2014 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award, the 2015 Balzan Prize, a 2018 Bruno Pontecorvo Prize, the 2019 IUPAP Yodh Prize, the 2021 Bruno Rossi Prize, the 2021 Homi Bhabha Award, and honorary doctorates at several universities.

He won the Nobel Prize in physics for his efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos, tiny cosmic particles that researchers believe offer clues to how the universe evolved. Halzen is perhaps foremost the principal investigator of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a project he initiated in the late 1980s that eventually transformed a cubic-kilometer of natural Antarctic ice below the National Science Foundation’s South Pole station in a particle detector. IceCube’s first observations of high-energy cosmic neutrinos garnered the 2013 Physics World Breakthrough of the Year Award. IceCube provided evidence of high-energy neutrino emission from the vicinity of supermassive black holes hiding in the dense cores of active galaxies, which turns out to be a first clue in figuring out where cosmic rays originate, a longstanding puzzle in astronomy stemming from the discovery of cosmic rays more than a century ago. Recently, IceCube finally discovered neutrinos originating in our own Milky Way.

Halzen is the co-author of Quarks and Leptons, a textbook on modern particle physics that continues to be used extensively throughout college campuses today. He has more than one thousand publications to his credit and his essay “Antarctic Dreams,” about the early days of AMANDA, IceCube’s precursor, was featured in The Best American Science Writing 2000.

About the 2027 AAPT Winter Meeting, January 9-11
Be part of a historic moment as physics educators from across the country gather in New Orleans for the final AAPT Winter Meeting. This landmark event honors the legacy of the Winter Meeting while bringing together educators, researchers, and physics professionals to share ideas, explore innovative teaching practices, and connect with colleagues. The meeting will be held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside in New Orleans, Louisiana. The program features inspiring plenary sessions, interactive workshops, engaging discussions, and valuable networking opportunities.