High-energy neutrino astronomy with IceCube

The prospect of extending our knowledge of the astrophysical processes in the deepest recesses of the Universe by using neutrinos as astronomical messengers has been a dream of scientists since the 1960s. The vision is finally becoming a reality: the first-generation AMANDA neutrino telescope at the South Pole designed to search for high-energy neutrinos is being upgraded to a kilometre-scale array, IceCube, with a much improved sensitivity. A summary of the results from AMANDA, and the perspectives for IceCube are presented.