Physicist and author, Director of the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
Joined November 2017
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At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe's First Seconds is available now. A tour of our cosmic history, focusing on the first moments after the Big Bang and the puzzles of dark matter, dark energy, inflation and antimatter. #EdgeofTime
amazon.com/gp/product/069118…
Dan Hooper retweeted
📢 Ready to join our dynamic education & outreach team? 🌟
The Outreach Program Manager will steer education and outreach efforts for WIPAC and the Nobel Prize-winning IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole.
jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/outreach-…
ALT A graphic that says "We're Hiring!"
Excellent article from my good friend John Beacom!
medium.com/@beacom.7/how-neu…
Dan Hooper retweeted
We've collected some notable media highlights reporting on Professor Francis Halzen winning the @NobelPrize in Physics for his contribution to the @NSF IceCube Neutrino Observatory.
#NobelPrize2026 #NSFFunded #IceCubeNeutrinoObservatory
ALT A collage of news headlines shows coverage of Francis Halzen winning the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Dan Hooper retweeted
Sci populists can’t hide the ball for 5 minutes.
What is the “benefit to humankind” of FTL alien telephones, superdeterminism and carrying water for bullshit artists like Eric Weinstein.
Shitting on productive physicists for the titillation of contrarians is the game here.
Dan Hooper retweeted
IceCube Principal Investigator and @UWMadison Prof. Francis Halzen has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics "for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.” 🎉🏅
#NobelPrizeInPhysics2026
ALT Nobel Prize in Physics 2026 Francis Halzen graphic with a headshot of Francis crossing his arms.
Dan Hooper retweeted
Almost as if they’re part of a single underlying field
In QFT, electrons are like notes played on the same guitar string. Pluck it twice and you might hear the same note louder, but you can’t tell which part of the vibration came from which pluck. They lost their individual identities
Dan Hooper retweeted
The LZ dark matter search has observed a single unexplained event
Many discoveries have begun with a single anomalous event, but so have even more false alarms. So we wait. Typically, direct-detection experiments have excellent control over their backgrounds
Our new results are out! We have observed a single nuclear recoil in our detector that we find difficult to explain with our background model. Could it be a hint of dark matter? It’s far too early to say, but it’s certainly intriguing! #darkmatter
Dan Hooper retweeted
My new paper which interprets the new results form the LUX/Zeplin dark matter detector as a higgsino is out!
arxiv.org/pdf/2609.01583
Dan Hooper retweeted
🥇🚨 Gold alert - IceCube observation of a high-energy neutrino candidate event at 2026/08/27 15:35:36 UTC. Find out more at: gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/45455.
#IceCubeAlert
Dan Hooper retweeted
“If this holds up”… posts arXiv submission from 2024 on an idea with zero currently accepted observational support.
See: bigthink.com/starts-with-a-b…
These are the guys supposedly working out what UAPs are for the US government…
Dan Hooper retweeted
You might enjoy this:
youtu.be/sQnOFGWsXNM?is=fUqj…
Dan Hooper retweeted
To dwell on the edges of knowledge can be crazy making, but that’s exactly what drew me to physics; I wanted to feel nature’s absurdity.
(all my homies love David Lynch)
shalmawegsman.substack.com/p…
Dan Hooper retweeted
Famous globular cluster Terzan 5: an imposter after all
One of the largest, most famous globular clusters in our Milky Way is Terzan 5.
Only, it might not be a true globular cluster after all.
In fact, many of them might be imposters.
bigthink.com/starts-with-a-b…
I just told my wife a joke about both Star Wars and Medicare reform, and it totally landed! We may be in the top ten nerdiest couples of all time!
Dan Hooper retweeted
Stern and Gerlach’s 1922 paper on the discovery of quantised spin (that also won a Nobel prize) didn’t get translated into English until @PhillipHelbig and yours truly rectified this historic and indefensible dereliction in 2023
