(13.Dezember 2013) The Physics World award for the 2013 Breakthrough of the Year goes to „the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory for making the first observations of high-energy cosmic neutrinos“. Nine other achievements are highly commended and cover topics ranging from nuclear physics to nanotechnology.

In seeking to make sense of night skies, astronomers have always had to rely on electromagnetic radiation – from visible and infrared light to X-rays and gamma rays. The team behind the Physics World Breakthrough of the Year has, however, ushered in an era of „neutrino astronomy“, whereby particles – not radiation – are the tools of the trade.