It lit up my day when it arrived. A BBC News alert about the Nobel Prize in Physics being awarded for detecting “ghost particles” from space.
In a world that seems to have gone mad (even madder?), it’s a particularly bright moment that reminded me that humanity still values science and research. And the geeks who do it.
This year the honour went to Belgian-American physicist Prof Francis Halzen, who pioneered the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. It “uses a cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice fitted with light sensors to detect particles called neutrinos. These carry information about violent, high-energy processes in the cosmos,” explains the BBC.
Mark Pearce, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said “Francis Halzen has led an international team of researchers and engineers who have provided us with a fantastic instrument. His tenacity and scientific vision has paved the way for a new kind of astronomy.”
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that “his vision and scientific leadership have been fundamental for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory”, which came out of research he first presented in 1988.
He used a kilometre of ice at the South Pole to discover these otherwise undetectable neutrinos – sounds very Star Trek, doesn’t it? It was an overnight scientific success 38 years in the making.
I love stories like this.
Last year, another Nobel Prize laureate was off-grid camping with his wife when his name was announced. Fred Ramsdell was my hero last October. Not just because he deservedly won the Nobel Prize, but because he went on holiday and turned off his phone. For three whole weeks.
He’s post-FOMO.
Meanwhile, on the day of this year’s physics announcement, the Nobel committee named American neurologist Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel from Germany the award for medicine for their work in optogenetics. I’d never heard of it either.
“Optogenetics has fundamentally altered our understanding of the brain,” the Nobel Assembly said. “Every day brings new discoveries, helping to solve one of humanity’s great mysteries: how our incredible brain works.”
Per Svenningsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, added: “Optogenetics provides opportunities for mapping the brain in a way that we could once only dream of.”
The Nobel Committee said: “Using light, researchers are now able to switch individual neural circuits on or off in the brain. They can bring memories to life, create feelings, drive behaviours and study the types of neurons that are involved in various psychiatric and neurological disorders.”
Isn’t science amazing?
