Ahmed Hassan Zewail ( ar, أحمد حسن زويل, ; February 26, 1946 – August 2, 2016) was an
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
ian-American chemist, known as the "father of
femtochemistry".
He was awarded the 1999
Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry and became the first Egyptian to win a
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
in a
scientific field, and the second African to win a Nobel Prize in
Chemistry. He was the
Linus Pauling Chair Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Physics, and the director of the Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology at the
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
.
Early life and education
Ahmed Hasan Zewail was born on February 26, 1946, in
Damanhur,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, and was raised in
Desouk
Desouk ( ar, دسوق, ) is a city in northern Egypt. Located 80 km east of Alexandria, in the Kafr El Sheikh Governorate and had a population of 137,660 inhabitants as of 2011. It is bordered to the west by the Beheira Governorate.
Desouk ...
.
He received a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
and
Master of Science
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...
degrees in Chemistry from
Alexandria University
Alexandria University ( ar, جامعة الإسكندرية) is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an indepen ...
before moving to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
to complete his
PhD at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
supervised by
Robin M. Hochstrasser
Robin M. Hochstrasser (4 January 1931 – 27 February 2013) was a Scottish-born American chemist.
Biography
Hochstrasser was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1952 he received his B.S. from Heriot-Watt University and 3 years later got his Ph.D. fr ...
.
Career
After completing his PhD, Zewail did
postdoctoral research
A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...
at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, supervised by Charles Bonner Harris.
[ Following this, he was awarded a faculty appointment at the ]California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
in 1976, and he made the first Linus Pauling Chair in Chemical Physics.[ He became a ]naturalized citizen
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
of the United States on 5 March 1982. Zewail was the director of the Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology at the California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
.
Zewail had been nominated and participated in President Barack Obama's Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), an advisory group of the nation's leading scientists and engineers to advise the President and Vice President and formulate policy in the areas of science, technology, and innovation.
Research
Zewail's key work was a pioneer of femtochemistry—i.e. the study of chemical reaction
A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the pos ...
s across femtoseconds. Using a rapid ultrafast
In optics, an ultrashort pulse, also known as an ultrafast event, is an electromagnetic pulse whose time duration is of the order of a picosecond (10−12 second) or less. Such pulses have a broadband optical spectrum, and can be created by mo ...
laser technique (consisting of ultrashort laser flashes), the technique allows the description of reactions on very short time scales – short enough to analyse transition states in selected chemical reactions. Zewail became known as the "father of femtochemistry".
Political work
In a speech at Cairo University
Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...
on June 4, 2009, US President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
proclaimed a new Science Envoy program as part of a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world." In January 2010, Ahmed Zewail, Elias Zerhouni
Elias Zerhouni (in Arabic إلياس زرهوني) (born April 12, 1951) is an Algerian-born American scientist, radiologist and biomedical engineer.
He spent much of his career on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, ...
, and Bruce Alberts
Bruce Michael Alberts (born April 14, 1938, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American biochemist and the Chancellor’s Leadership Chair in Biochemistry and Biophysics for Science and Education, Emeritus at the University of California, San Francisc ...
became the first US science envoys to Islam, visiting Muslim-majority countries from North Africa to Southeast Asia.
When asked about rumors that he might contest the 2011 Egyptian presidential election, Ahmed Zewail said: "I am a frank man... I have no political ambition, as I have stressed repeatedly that I only want to serve Egypt in the field of science and die as a scientist."
During the 2011 Egyptian protests
The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...
he announced his return to the country. Zewail said that he would join a committee for constitutional reform alongside Ayman Nour
Ayman Abd El Aziz Nour ( arz, أيمن عبد العزيز نور, ; born 5 December 1964) is an Egyptian politician, a former member of the Egyptian Parliament, founder and chairman of the El Ghad party. Nour was the first man to ever compet ...
, Mubarak's rival at the 2005 presidential elections and a leading lawyer.
Zewail was later mentioned as a respected figure working as an intermediary between the military regime ruling after Mubarak's resignation, and revolutionary youth groups such as the April 6 Youth Movement
The April 6 Youth Movement ( ar, حركة شباب 6 أبريل) is an Egyptian activist group established in Spring 2008 to support the workers in El-Mahalla El-Kubra, an industrial town, who were planning to strike on 6 April.
Activists calle ...
and young supporters of Mohamed ElBaradei
Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei ( ar, محمد مصطفى البرادعي, Muḥammad Muṣṭafá al-Barādaʿī, ; born 17 June 1942) is an Egyptian law scholar and diplomat who served as the vice president of Egypt on an interim basis from 14 July ...
. He played a critical role during this time as described by Egyptian Media.
Awards and honors
In 1999, Zewail became the first Egyptian to receive a science Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Zewail gave his Nobel Lecture on "Femtochemistry: Atomic-Scale Dynamics of the Chemical Bond Using Ultrafast Lasers". In 1999, he received Egypt's highest state honor, the Grand Collar of the Nile.[ In October 2006, Zewail received the ]Albert Einstein World Award of Science
The Albert Einstein World Award for Science is an annual award given by the World Cultural Council "as a means of recognition and encouragement for scientific and technological research and development", with special consideration for researches ...
for "his pioneering development of the new field of femtoscience and for his seminal contributions to the revolutionary discipline of physical biology, creating new ways for better understanding the functional behavior of biological systems by directly visualizing them in the four dimensions of space and time."
Other international awards include the King Faisal International Prize
The King Faisal Prize ( ar, جائزة الملك فيصل, formerly King Faisal International Prize), is an annual award sponsored by King Faisal Foundation presented to "dedicated men and women whose contributions make a positive difference". T ...
(1989),[ Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1993) awarded to him by the Wolf Foundation,][ the ]Tolman Award The Tolman Medal is awarded each year by the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society (SCALACS) for outstanding contributions to chemistry which include contributions in areas of fundamental studies, chemical technology, and sign ...
(1997),[ the Robert A. Welch Award (1997),][ the Golden Plate Award of the ]American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...
(2000), the Othmer Gold Medal
The Othmer Gold Medal recognizes outstanding individuals who contributed to progress in chemistry and science through their activities in areas including innovation, entrepreneurship, research, education, public understanding, legislation, and ph ...
(2009), the Priestley Medal (2011) from the American Chemical Society and the Davy Medal
The Davy Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry". Named after Humphry Davy, the medal is awarded with a monetary gift, initially of £1000 (currently £2000).
H ...
(2011) from the Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
.
Zewail became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1989 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 1993, and the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1998. Zewail was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...
(ForMemRS) in 2001. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2002.[ He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Lund University in Sweden in May 2003 and was made a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.][ ]Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science in 2006. In May 2008, Zewail received an honorary doctorate from Complutense University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...
. In February 2009, Zewail was awarded an honorary doctorate in arts and sciences by the University of Jordan
The University of Jordan ( ar, الجامعة الأردنية), often abbreviated UJ, is a public university located in Amman, Jordan. Founded in 1962 by royal decree, it is the largest and oldest institution of higher education in Jordan. ...
. In May 2010, he gave the commencement address at Southwestern University. On 3 October 2011 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Glasgow. On 19 May 2014, he was awarded an honorary degree from Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
. The Zewail city of science and technology, established in 2000 and revived in 2011, is named in his honour.
Honorary Degrees
Zewail was bestowed honorary degrees by the following institutions:
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, UK (1991);
The American University in Cairo
The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs ...
, Egypt (1993);
Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven
KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...
, Belgium (1997);
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, USA (1997);
University of Lausanne, Switzerland (1997);
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia (1999);
, Egypt (1999);
D.Sc. Alexandria University
Alexandria University ( ar, جامعة الإسكندرية) is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an indepen ...
, Egypt (1999);
D.Sc. University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Ameri ...
, Canada (2000);
Sapienza University of Rome
The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...
, Italy (2000); and
University of Liège, Belgium (2000).
Personal life
Zewail and his first wife, Mervat, were married in 1967, just before leaving Egypt to attend the University of Philadelphia. He had two daughters with Mervat, Maha and Amani. They separated in 1979.
Zewail married Dema Faham in 1989. Zewail and Faham had two sons, Nabeel and Hani.
Honours
Egyptian national honours
*Grand Collar of the Order of the Nile
The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor.
Sultana ...
(1999)
*Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Egypt)
The Order of Merit is an Egyptian order of merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or fo ...
(1995)
Foreign honors
*Knight of the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
*Officier of the National Order of Merit
*Grand Cordon of the National Order of the Cedar
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
*Grand Officer of the National Order of the Republic of Sudan
*Commander of the Order of the Republic
*Grand Officer of Order of Zayed
The Order of Zayed ( ar, وسام زايد) is the United Arab Emirates' highest civil decoration named after the first president of the UAE, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan ( ar, زَايِد بِن سُلْط� ...
Death and funeral
Zewail died aged 70 on the morning of August 2, 2016. He was recovering from cancer, however, the exact cause of his death is unknown. Zewail returned to Egypt, but only his body was received at Cairo Airport. A military funeral was held for Zewail on August 7, 2016, at the El-Mosheer Tantawy mosque in Cairo, Egypt. Those attending included President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb, Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi
Sedki Sobhy Sayyid Ahmad ( ar, صدقى صبحى سيد أحمد ) (born 12 December 1955) is an Egyptian politician and former General who was Minister of Defence of Egypt from 2014 until 2018. Sobhy previously served as the Chief of Sta ...
, former President Adly Mansour, former Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab
Ibrahim Roshdy Mahlab ( ar, إبراهيم رشدى محلب ; born 8 May 1949) is an Egyptian politician who was the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1 March 2014 until 19 September 2015. Previously he served as Minister of Housing.
Career
Ma ...
and heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub. The funeral prayers were led by Ali Gomaa, former Grand Mufti of Egypt.
Publications
Scientific
*Advances in Laser Spectroscopy I, ed. A. H. Zewail, SPIE, Bellingham, 1977
*Advances in Laser Chemistry, ed. A. H. Zewail, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, 1978
*Photochemistry and Photobiology, Vols. 1 and 2, ed. A. H. Zewail, Harwood Academic, London, 1983
*Ultrafast Phenomena VII, eds. C. B. Harris, E. P. Ippen, G. A. Mourou and A. H. Zewail, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, 1990
*The Chemical Bond: Structure and Dynamics, ed. A. H. Zewail, Academic Press, Boston, 1992
*Ultrafast Phenomena VIII, eds. J.-L. Martin, A. Migus, G. A. Mourou, and A. H. Zewail, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, 1993
*Ultrafast Phenomena IX, eds. P. F. Barbara, W. H. Knox, G. A. Mourou, and A. H. Zewail, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, 1994
Femtochemistry: Ultrafast Dynamics of the Chemical Bond Vol. I
A. H. Zewail, World Scientific, 1994
Femtochemistry: Ultrafast Dynamics of the Chemical Bond Vol. II
A. H. Zewail, World Scientific, 1994
Physical Biology: From Atoms to Medicine
ed. A. H. Zewail, Imperial College Press, London, 2008
ed. A. H. Zewail, Imperial College Press, London, 2009
*International Advisory Board for Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry (1999–2014)
4D Visualization of Matter: Recent Collected Works of Ahmed H Zewail, Nobel Laureate
Imperial College Press, London, 2014
Biographical
Voyage Through Time: Walks of Life to the Nobel Prize
Ahmed H Zewail, World Scientific, 2002
*''Age of Science
''Age of Science'' (2005 in literature, 2005) is a book about science in the 20th century by author and Egyptians, Egyptian-American scientist, and the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Ahmed Zewail. The book is also a biography and aut ...
'' (2005, autobiography in Arabic)
Remembering Ahmed H. Zewail
*
*
See also
* Zewail City of Science and Technology (ZCST)
**Ahmed founded ZCST and even donated his entire Nobel prize money in order to establish this university. Due to his need of wanting help Egypt to excel and advance academically the first batch of students were exempted from fees due to their scientific brilliance.
* List of Egyptian scientists
References
External links
*
* Website no longer active, checked July 20, 2020
Official website
Captured from the Wayback Machine, June 28, 2018, accessed July 20, 2020
*
*
Interview with Ahmed Zewail
Caltech Oral Histories, California Institute of Technology
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zewail, Ahmed H.
1946 births
2016 deaths
Albert Einstein World Award of Science Laureates
Alexandria University alumni
People from Beheira Governorate
Egyptian chemists
Egyptian inventors
Egyptian scientists
Egyptian Muslims
Egyptian Nobel laureates
Egyptian emigrants to the United States
American Muslims
American Nobel laureates
American physical chemists
California Institute of Technology faculty
University of California, Berkeley fellows
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Foreign Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy
Nobel laureates in Chemistry
Spectroscopists
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureates
People from Desouk
Fellows of the American Physical Society
Members of the American Philosophical Society