Want Wealthy Children? Send Them to Study Physics
In a world where artificial intelligence threatens to replace programmers and finance professionals, one profession remains the solid foundation of every technological success. From the science centers in Sderot and Netivot, through IDF technology units, to the quantum race worth tens of billions, this is a journey following the new physicists who are changing the face of the country. “It changes the way you think,” Yael Odem, Main Edition, published: 08.06.26, 23:14 | updated: 09.06.26, 10:11
Do you want children who will be financially secure? The formula for such success for the next generation may be much simpler than it seems, and it does not necessarily go through accelerated coding courses or prestigious business administration studies. It begins in high school laboratories, among boards full of formulas that many wrongly label as boring. If you ask the people shaping the global economy, their answer to parents who want to secure their children’s future is unequivocal: send them to study physics.
This is not just a local trend. Jensen Huang, CEO of chip giant Nvidia, a company valued in the trillions of dollars and now dominating the artificial intelligence market, repeats this message over and over. He is not alone. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and an entrepreneur who has transformed entire industries, gave the exact same advice. “As a 20-year-old, maybe I would have chosen physics,” Musk said in one of his recent appearances. “The best analytical framework for us to have a future is physics.”
The insight is also taking root deeply in Israel, the “Startup Nation.” “Students who choose to take physics at a higher level in high school today find themselves at the top of demand lists,” explains Eli Horowitz, CEO of the Trump Foundation. First in the elite technological units of the IDF, then in the most prestigious university faculties, and from there the path to the heart of the hi-tech industry is short and especially rewarding, he said.
The national catch, when there is no lab and no teacher
But this is exactly where the Israeli obstacle lies. While demand for physicists in the IDF and the private sector is soaring, the public system is struggling to provide the goods. In many schools, especially in the periphery, there is a severe shortage of certified physics teachers, and in many cases the laboratories and equipment needed to make the studies engaging and tangible are also lacking.
Into that vacuum stepped the Canadian Schwartz-Reisman Foundation. The real estate family decided to invest millions in establishing science education centers, with a clear focus, Israel’s geographic and social periphery. In Netivot, for example, such a center was established and became a magnet for students from the entire surrounding area. “What we measure is the difference between delta E and delta X,” explains Ethan Nachshon, an 11th-grade student participating in the project.
This center does not just teach formulas, it is changing the city’s statistics. Since its establishment, Netivot has seen a significant rise in the number of students taking the 5-unit physics matriculation exam. Today, more than 700 boys and girls in grades 10 through 12 study there, coming from Sderot, Ofakim, the Sdot Negev Regional Council and Hof Ashkelon. The branch in Rahat alone draws close to one hundred students.
For the students, physics becomes the lens through which they see the world. “When we studied Newton’s laws and I would go to the gym, suddenly I would understand the force that comes back to you,” says Raaya Ashush, one of the students at the Netivot center. “In my opinion, anyone who doesn’t know physics does not understand how things work.”
Nadir Yizrael, cofounder and CTO of Armis | Photo: Armis
“These are professions that are truly relevant, even in a world where everything else is happening with AI, and maybe even the opposite. They are moving forward much faster because of AI,” says Nadir Yizrael.
The exit that begins in Kiryat Ata
In December 2025, Nadir Yizrael and his partner Evgeny Dibrov signed one of the biggest exits in the country’s history. The cyber company they founded, Armis, was sold for the staggering sum of 7.75 billion shekels. For Yizrael, who grew up in Kiryat Ata, the path was clear, through excellence in the sciences in high school, six years in Unit 8200, and studies in physics and computer science at the Technion.
In his private apartment, far from the luxurious offices, he explains why he agreed to reveal his life in his first television interview since his life changed. “Today there are 900 families living off something that, ten years ago, was an idea on a sofa very similar to this one,” he says, smiling at the famous parody he received on “Eretz Nehederet.” But behind the humor lies a very serious worldview. “Physics changes the way you think, it changes the way you analyze situations,” he explains.
According to Yizrael, in a world where artificial intelligence, AI, threatens to replace programmers and many professionals, physics remains an island of stability and relevance. “These are things that ultimately do not just advance humanity. These are professions that are truly relevant, even in a world where everything else is happening with AI, and maybe even the opposite. They are moving forward much faster because of AI.” For him, physics is not just a profession, but a tool for understanding the most dynamic reality of all: “You know that the whole world of physics is currently in turmoil because it is not certain that the Big Bang actually happened? As much as we think we know how the world works, we know nothing.”
“If a child goes to study physics in high school and continues to a bachelor’s degree, his first salary will be tens of thousands of shekels,” says an industry worker. “20-plus and up, plus plus.”
The quantum race, the arena where the future will be decided
The urgency around physics studies is also tied to the next generation of technology, quantum computing. If cyber was the revolution of the previous decade, quantum is the arena where the next battles between governments and banks will be decided. The struggle over this technology is a global race in which more than 60 billion dollars have already been invested. Countries such as Britain, which woke up late to the cyber race, are now investing huge sums so as not to miss the physics train.
In Israel, companies are already operating that are leading the field. One of them, which develops software for quantum computers, recently raised more than 200 million dollars from major investors including SoftBank and BMW. “We enable physicists and computer engineers to develop applications that will run on quantum computers,” the company explains. “The goal is to solve computational problems that even today’s most powerful computers cannot handle.”
For the young people choosing this path, the financial reward is immediate. “If a child goes to study physics in high school and continues to a bachelor’s degree, his first salary will be tens of thousands of shekels,” an industry worker confirms. “20-plus and up, plus plus.”
The mission of the pre-army students, developing Netivot
To make sure this opportunity does not remain the preserve of residents of the center of the country, the Davidson Institute, the educational arm of the Weizmann Institute, is operating a unique program of pre-army students. These are brilliant young people from across the country, from Kibbutz Shemarat to Herzliya and Jerusalem, who dedicate a year before military service to teaching science in elementary schools and middle schools in Netivot and Ofakim.
In Netivot, 13 schools and five middle schools are involved. In Ofakim, they also reach kindergartens. “Every week we reach more than 2,000 students,” says Eli Amadi, CEO of the science division at the Davidson Institute for Science Education. “There is nothing like children’s science education. You see their eyes light up when they simply understand the logic behind a ball being kicked or an object moving,” says Ofri Orbach, one of the participants in the pre-army program.
These instructors, who themselves went through selection processes for units such as Shakim and Gamma, bring not only knowledge but also inspiration. They show children in the periphery that physics is not a distant dream, but an accessible reality. Even during breaks, their conversations revolve around quantum physics. “It’s very nerdy,” they admit with a smile, “but it is something of enormous value to Israeli society as a whole.”
The message to parents is clear, do not assume in advance that your son or daughter is “not suited” to physics. In an era when the rules of the economic game change every day, the ability to understand the laws of nature becomes the greatest competitive advantage. The high school lab in Netivot may be the launchpad for the next billion-shekel exit, and the road there runs through curiosity, formulas, and the understanding that the world, with all its galaxies and atoms, is waiting for someone to decipher its secrets.
