Barbara A. Maher

Barbara Ann Maher is a Professor of Environmental Science at Lancaster University. She serves as co-director of the centre for environmental magnetism & palaeomagnetism and works on magnetic nanoparticles and pollution.

Education and early career

Maher earned her bachelor's degree in geography at the University of Liverpool. She remained there for her graduate studies, earning a PhD in environmental geophysics for research on the origins and transformations of magnetic minerals in soils.

Career and research

After completing her PhD, Maher was made a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She joined the University of East Anglia as a lecturer in 1987 and was promoted to Reader in 1998. Here she investigated the magnetic properties of ultrafine sub-micron magnetites. Using her understanding of magnetic minerals, she evaluated the climate of the Loess Plateau. She developed spatial and temporal reconstructions of the Asian palaeomonsoon. She was the Royal Institution Scientists for the new century lecturer in 1999. She edited the book Quaternary Climates, Environments and Magnetism in 1999.

Maher studies magnetic nanoparticles to track climate change and changes in human health. She was described by Richard Harrison as having "single-handedly developed the field of environmental magnetism". She demonstrated that soils that were exposed to higher rainfall make more magnetite. She has studied how windblown dusts impacted the levels of greenhouse gases. She is interested in magnetic records of Quaternary terrestrial sediments. She launched the Quantifying Uncertainty in the Earth System (QUEST) Working Group on Dust in 2008.

Maher became interested in metal-rich particulate pollution. In 2013 Maher demonstrated that silver birch trees could be used as pollution filters. The result was part of an investigation into the impact of roadside trees on the concentration of particulate matter found in people's homes. Silver birch trees are covered in tiny hairs, which can trap the particulate matter whilst allowing clean air to circulate. The matter is washed off the leaves when it rains, allowing the birch trees to trap even more particulate matter. Her work was examined by Michael Mosley and Gabriel Weston on the BBC show Trust Me, I'm a Doctor. They found that the pollution collected in houses protected by silver birch trees was 50 - 60% lower than in houses without them.

In 2016 Maher found toxic nanoparticles in human brain tissue. By studying the nanoparticles using an electron microscope, Maher found they were small and round, indicating that they had been formed at high temperatures. As the nanoparticles have diameters that are less than 200 nm, they can enter the brain through the olfactory nerve. Magnetite can produce reactive oxygen species in the brain. Maher became concerned that these magnetite particles could be linked to Alzheimer's disease, mental illness and reduced intelligence. She appeared on BBC Radio 4's Inside Science in 2018, discussing the Government of the United Kingdom Clean Air Strategy.

Awards and honours

• 2005 Institute of Physics (IOP) Chree medal and prize, renamed Institute of Physics Edward Appleton Medal and Prize in 2008
• 2006 Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award
• 2009 Vice President of the Quaternary Research Association
• 2013 Lancaster University Pilkington Teaching Award
• 2014 Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland Schlumberger Award