Kozhikode: A researcher from Kerala is a member of the team of Francis Halzen, the Belgian-American neutrino scientist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics, 2026. V Aswathi Balagopal, belonging to ‘Swasthy’, Keerthy Nagar at Chalappuram in Kozhikode, has been engaged in research along with Halzen to trace astrophysical neutrinos for the last five years. Moreover, two of Aswathi’s own findings have been included in the article which was selected for the Nobel Prize.

Aswathi completed her schooling at Providence School, Kozhikode and took a degree in Physics from Devagiri College in the city. She subsequently earned a PhD from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. Following this, Aswathi joined Halzen’s team at Wisconsin - Madison University in the US as a postdoctoral researcher.

Around 300 researchers from multiple countries work as part of Halzen’s team.

Reacting to Halzen winning the Nobel, Aswathi said, “The results of neutrino research will lead to discoveries which are beneficial to humanity only decades later.”

Aswathi is the daughter of P Balagopal, a chartered accountant, and Rashmi. Ashik Saseendran is her husband.