Uncovering Big Insights from Nature’s Smallest Mysteries
Uncovering Big Insights from Nature’s Smallest Mysteries
November 21, 2025
Prof. Maya Bar-Sadan, Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry at BGU.
The Jerusalem Post—At Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), where she serves as a full professor and head of the Department of Chemistry, Prof. Maya Bar Sadan approaches chemistry like a detective. “Every experiment is a mystery… You collect evidence, you test your theories, and hope that at the end, the story makes sense,” she told The Jerusalem Post, exploring phenomena at the quantum scale where atoms and nanoparticles behave in surprising ways.
Her lab creates and studies materials only a few nanometers wide, controlling properties such as magnetism and conductivity. “You can’t see them, but you can design them, control them… It’s like coaxing nature to tell you a secret,” she explained to The Jerusalem Post, highlighting BGU’s cutting-edge work in quantum chemistry and nanotechnology.
Prof. Bar Sadan applies her research to real-world challenges, using nanoparticles to explore alternative fuels. “When you burn hydrogen, you get water… The challenge is doing it efficiently, so we don’t waste energy,” she notes, linking fundamental quantum insights to environmental impact.
Prof. Bar Sadan emphasized practical, meaningful change, noting to The Jerusalem Post: “‘It’s not about inventing the next miracle. It’s about small, real steps, like hydrogen fuel stations here in Israel, or recycling industrial waste into something useful. There’s so much we can reuse, so many pollutants we can turn into resources. That’s the kind of detective work I want to keep doing.’”
Overcoming the obstacles of war for scientific breakthroughs
Prof. Bar Sadan’s challenges extend far beyond the lab. As department head, she has watched Israeli academia struggle under immense strain, with fewer Israelis pursuing fields like physics, chemistry, and materials science and programs becoming harder to fill. Many of her students now come from abroad—mainly India and China—bringing added complications during times of conflict. One Indian PhD student, in the final stages of her dissertation, was urged by her family to return home as rockets fell on Beer-Sheva, including near her dorm by Soroka Hospital. For someone new to Israel, Bar Sadan says, the fear in that moment was overwhelming. Despite it all, she stays positive supported by her international colleagues.
For Prof. Bar Sadan, science is about following clues wherever they lead. “Science isn’t about certainty. You follow the clues, you test your ideas, and sometimes, what you find changes everything,” she reflects, embodying the innovative and investigative spirit at BGU.
Read more on The Jerusalem Post>
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