The Physics Nobel Prize has a Kerala connection in Kozhikode
Kozhikode-born researcher V Aswathy Balagopal contributed to Francis Halzen’s Nobel-winning neutrino team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, featuring her own findings and marking a proud global achievement for Kerala.
Kozhikode-born researcher V Aswathy Balagopal contributed to Francis Halzen’s Nobel-winning neutrino team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, featuring her own findings and marking a proud global achievement for Kerala.
Kozhikode-born researcher V Aswathy Balagopal contributed to Francis Halzen’s Nobel-winning neutrino team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, featuring her own findings and marking a proud global achievement for Kerala.
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 Aswathy 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 Aswathy’s own findings have been included in the article which was selected for the Nobel Prize.
Aswathy 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, Aswathy 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, Aswathy said, “the results of neutrino research will lead to discoveries which are beneficial to humanity only decades later.”
Aswathy is the daughter of P Balagopal, a chartered accountant, and Rasmi. Aashik Saseendran is her husband.