Nobel Prizes 2026 | From neurons to neutrinos
his year’s Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine and Physics span an extraordinary range of research, from nerve cells in the brain to particles arriving from the depths of the universe. Light plays a key role in both award-winning discoveries, albeit in very different ways.
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel “for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics”. Their research laid the foundations for using light to precisely control the activity of selected cells. In neuroscience in particular, optogenetics has opened up new ways of investigating the function of neural networks. Potential medical applications are also being explored.
The 2026 Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel. Image credit: Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Francis Halzen for his decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. Neutrinos interact only extremely rarely with matter and are therefore notoriously difficult to detect. IceCube uses thousands of light sensors deep in the Antarctic ice to register the faint signals produced when these particles occasionally interact with matter. Neutrinos thus provide a new window onto some of the most energetic processes in the universe.
2026 Nobel Laureate in Physics Francis Halzen. Image credit: Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach
Despite the very different fields of research, light plays a key role in both. In optogenetics, it can be used to precisely influence the activity of cells. In the Antarctic ice, tiny flashes of light reveal the traces of particles that have travelled to us from the depths of the universe.
Welcome to Photonworld – a platform for knowledge, interesting facts and science on the topic of light. Photonworld aims to provide a basic understanding of the physics of light and its countless phenomena. From medicine, to art and physics: all topics are covered.
Photonworld originated as an initiative of the excellence cluster the Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP) and the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics (LAP) at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ).
The initiator of the project is Prof. Dr. Ferenc Krausz, Chair of Experimental Physics at the LMU and Director of the MPQ.
Photonworld’s Student Zone reports directly out of the PhotonLab, which is supported by the Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST) and the DFG Research Unit FOR 2783. At the PhotonLab, schoolteachers and students can find up-to-date information about experiments and goings-on at the lab, and plan their own visit to the laboratory.
