UNF Department of Physics and Astronomy

10/06/2026

10/06/2026

IceCube Principal Investigator and University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Francis Halzen has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics!! 🎉🏅

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Francis Halzen "for decisive contributions to the National Science Foundation (NSF) IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.”

10/06/2026

BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics to Francis Halzen “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.”

Francis Halzen realised that ice at the South Pole could be used to track particles known as neutrinos. His vision and scientific leadership have been fundamental for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory – a cubic kilometre of ice that is equipped with light sensors. Using IceCube, researchers can capture neutrinos from extremely energy-rich processes in the distant universe.

Neutrinos are everywhere, but they do not make themselves known. They pass all the way through the Earth and through our bodies without us noticing. Very rarely, a single neutrino will interact with an atomic nucleus, which makes it possible for someone with the right equipment to discover them.

Scientists have long known that the cosmos contains natural particle accelerators, which fire out particles with energies up to a million times more than can be achieved in laboratories on Earth. Much about these sources is mysterious: what are they, where are they, and what are the main processes inside them?

Neutrinos with extremely high energies are created in the same environments as other types of particles. However, unlike other particles, neutrinos reach us without changing direction or losing energy. This means they can provide information that is not available in any other way.

Francis Halzen first presented his vision for capturing neutrinos at the South Pole in 1988. When a neutrino collides with an atomic nucleus, it produces a flash of light that can be tracked by sensors in the clear glacial ice. The South Pole’s ice has many advantages, as it is free from various types of interference and the area is geologically stable, with no earthquakes. Halzen and his idea soon gained the support of other researchers and, just a few years later, preliminary testing was conducted on sensors in ice.

Cosmic neutrinos with extremely high energies are very rare, so an enormous volume of ice is needed to observe an adequate number of collisions. IceCube covers an entire cubic kilometre and was finished in 2011. Researchers soon discovered the first high-energy neutrinos and, a few years later, could publish their discovery of neutrinos that must originate far outside our solar system. The search for the universe’s neutrino sources could begin in earnest.

The neutrino interactions that are continuously collected by IceCube will provide researchers with novel knowledge about the violent settings in which high-energy neutrinos can be created – and could even reveal previously unknown cosmic phenomena.

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10/01/2026

First UNF Alumni in space! Inspiring day as UNF students watched Luke Delaney pilot NASA's Crew-13 to the Space Station.

09/30/2026

Join us this Friday, October 2nd, as the of North Florida Department of Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Series welcomes Dr. Jamie Tayar from the University of Florida. She will be speaking on "How well can we estimate stellar ages?"

09/02/2026

NASA-HASP launched two UNF payloads: Ozone sensors and long-range communication (LoRa) on a high-altitude balloon from the NASA-CSBF in Fort Sumner, NM, this morning. You can see the live stream:

https://www.youtube.com/c/LouisianaSpaceGrant/live

09/01/2026

Join us on September 11th as the University of North Florida Department of Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Series welcomes Dr. Janice Musfeldt from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She will be speaking on "Intercalated chalcogenides under extreme pressure-temperature conditions".

08/13/2026

Two successful study abroad trips for UNF students to see the 2026 total solar eclipse! One launching and recovering three stratospheric balloons, and the other capturing endless fantastic photos

08/12/2026

UNF physics and engineering students are live streaming their eclipse balloon launch

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07/07/2026

Congratulations to Drs. Coelho, Pekarek, and Haraldsen, along with University of North Florida students Patrick Kenney (Graduate), Kyle Taylor (Undergraduate), and Cole Ratkus (Undergraduate), on the publication of their manuscript "High-Spin Defect Clustering and Emergent Magnetism in TiS2" in the Wiley journal Advanced Functional Materials.