Faculty

Francis Halzen

Francis Halzen is the principal investigator of IceCube, Vilas Research Professor and Gregory Breit Professor at UW–Madison, and a theoretician studying problems that span the particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology communities.  In 1987, Halzen started working on the AMANDA experiment, a first-generation neutrino telescope at the South Pole that represented a proof of concept for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Halzen also serves on advisory committees for the SNO, Telescope Array, and the Auger upgrade experiments, the Max Planck Institutes in Heidelberg and Munich, the ICRR of the University of Tokyo, the US Particle Physics Prioritization Panel, and the ApPEC particle astrophysics advisory panel in Europe. Halzen’s complete CV is available to download

Select Publications

Evidence for High-Energy Extraterrestrial Neutrinos at the IceCube Detector
IceCube Collaboration: M. G. Aartsen et al (Journal Article) Science 342 (2013) 1242856, 22 November 2013; DOI: 10.1126/science.1242856
sciencemag.org | sciencemag.org | arxiv.org

First Observation of PeV-energy Neutrinos with IceCube
IceCube Collaboration: M. G. Aartsen et al (Journal Article) Physical Review Letters 111 (2013) 021103; e-print archive arXiv:1304.5356 [astro-ph.HE]
prl.aps.org | arXiv.org

An Absence of Neutrinos Associated with Cosmic-Ray Acceleration in Gamma-Ray Bursts
IceCube Collaboration: R. Abbasi et al(Journal Article) Nature 484 (2012) 351-354, 19 April 2012
nature.com | arxiv.org

Observation of Muons Using the Polar Ice Cap as a Cerenkov Detector
F. Halzen, D.M. Lowder, T. Miller, R. Morse, P.B. Price and A. Westphal
(Journal Article) Nature 353 (1991) 331, 26 September 1991
nature.com

Observation of high-energy neutrinos using Cherenkov detectors embedded deep in Antarctic ice
AMANDA collaboration(Journal Article) Nature 410 (2001) 441, 22 March 2001
nature.com

 

Honors and Awards

  • Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, Southern Methodist University (2017)
  • Balzan Prize for Astroparticle Physics (2015)
  • European Physical Society Prize for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (2015)
  • International Franqui Professor, VUB-ULB-UGent-UMons-UA-ULg-KULeuven, Belgium (2014)
  • Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for Physical Sciences (2014)
  • Doctor Honoris Causa, Ghent University, Belgium (2013)
  • University of Wisconsin Hilldale Award (2013)
  • Affiliated Distinguished Professor, Technical University Munich, Germany (2012)
  • International Helmholtz Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany (2006)
  • Halzen Mesa, Antarctica (latitude -77.39, longitude 161.44) (2005)

CONTACT INFORMATION

(608) 890-0541

University of Wisconsin–Madison
Department of Physics
5293 Chamberlin Hall
Madison, Wisconsin
 
WIPAC
222 W Washington Ave
5th floor, Room 5213
Madison, WI 53703