A group of scientists, including a University of Wisconsin-River Falls physics professor, is drilling deep into the polar ice to get a clearer view of space.
“The goal of the project is knowledge. We want to learn more about the universe,” said Jim Madsen, who recently returned from his second trip to the South Pole for the project, dubbed IceCube.
Originally called AMANDA â?? Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array â?? the first phase of the project was completed in 2000 and gave way to IceCube. The new title is a bit easier to grasp. It is in the ice and will encompass a cubic kilometer.
The names are the result of a bunch of science types getting together, said Madsen, a Racine native who got his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his doctorate at the Colorado School of Mines. It was in Madison that he first met IceCube director and UW-Madison physicist Francis Halzen.