Centennial Prize to Prof. Beena Kalisky
Na’amat honors physicist for groundbreaking research and efforts to advance women in science and academia
Prof. Beena Kalisky of Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Physics is the winner of the Na'amat Centennial Prize for groundbreaking women scientists.
Prof. Kalisky, a world-renowned physicist, states that “as a researcher, I cannot separate my scientific work from being a woman, a wife and a mother.” The prize committee noted that Prof. Kalisky indeed “attests to the fact that there is no need for such a separation and that there is no one more deserving than her to receive Naamat’s Centennial Prize.”
Prof. Kalisky uses magnetic imaging of quantum materials - characterization of local magnetic properties on the surface - to discover and investigate new physical phenomena. Thanks to the ongoing, uncompromising development of innovative research and measurement methods, she is able to challenge prevailing perceptions, expanding the boundaries of human knowledge, time and time again. Prof. Kalisky and her students have developed and built the most sensitive sensor for magnetic fields existing today, which can sense individual magnetic nanoparticles, and even the magnetic field of a single electron. The sensor is used to study superconductors, and complex oxide interfaces which contribute to the development of future nanoelectronics. Prof. Kalisky's publications appear in leading journals, raise great interest and are cited widely. She has won many awards, scholarships and the most prestigious research grants, and is frequently invited to lecture at the most important forums and conferences, and to serve on key committees in the field.
Alongside her groundbreaking research, Prof. Kalisky works to advance women in science and academia. “She is a trailblazer in this area as well and enables others to follow in her path,” the award committee wrote. “It’s inspiring to see how the obstacles that she has had to overcome have become an engine of growth and action, in order to prevent such struggles for those who follow in her footsteps… she makes sure that the experimental work in her lab is accessible to everybody, removing barriers that sometimes deter women from choosing to specialize in physics and specifically in experimental physics. All this while placing emphasis on support and providing a personal response for female students who require it.”
The award ceremony for groundbreaking female scientists on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Na’amat organization, was held on February 1, 2022, in the presence of the President of the State of Israel and his wife, at the official Israeli presidential residence in Jerusalem.