The winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes are being announced. Francis Helzen has won the Nobel Prize in Physics this year.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winner in Stockholm, Sweden, at around 3:45pm Bangladesh time on Tuesday (October 6).

He was awarded the prize for his outstanding contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos originating from cosmic sources.

Francis Helzen was one of the pioneers of the idea that neutrino particles could be detected using the ice beneath the South Pole. His concept played a key role in the development of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The enormous research facility, covering nearly one cubic kilometre of ice, is equipped with light-sensitive sensors.

Using IceCube, scientists are detecting neutrinos arriving from extremely distant and powerful sources in the universe, enabling them to study various high-energy cosmic processes.

Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis of the University of California in the United States. They received the prize for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and quantisation of energy in an electric circuit.

The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded since 1901. The prize has been awarded 119 times so far. Lawrence Bragg became the youngest recipient at the age of 25. Arthur Ashkin was the oldest recipient, receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics at the age of 96 in 2018.