Mines Research scientist Larissa Paul traveled to the South Pole in 2024 to install four telescopes that study cosmic-ray events in the atmosphere. The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes a scientific breakthrough that South Dakota Mines researchers are helping advance using elusive subatomic particles called neutrinos to explore the universe’s most energetic and mysterious environments. (Courtesy photo)
Work involving Black Hills-based researchers at the South Pole has earned a Nobel Prize in Physics.
South Dakota Mines in Rapid City is among 58 institutions in 14 countries collaborating on the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a project that uses sensors buried deep in Antarctic ice to detect tiny particles from space. The research aims to help scientists understand some of the universe’s most powerful events.
Francis Halzen, a physics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, received the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to IceCube and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos from space.
“Francis Halzen’s prize recognizes IceCube's first discoveries, but the science is just getting started,” said Matthias Plum, an assistant professor of physics at South Dakota Mines.
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