Zewail was 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.[10]
Research
Zewail's key work was a pioneer of
femtochemistry[5][11][12]—i.e. the study of
chemical reactions across
femtoseconds. Using a rapid
ultrafastlaser 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.[13] Zewail became known as the "father of femtochemistry".[14] He also made critical contributions in
ultrafast electron diffraction, which uses short electron pulses rather than light pulses to study chemical reaction dynamics.[15]
Political work
In a speech at
Cairo University on June 4, 2009, US President
Barack Obama proclaimed a new Science Envoy program as part of a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world."[16] In January 2010, Ahmed Zewail,
Elias Zerhouni, and
Bruce Alberts became the first US science envoys to Islam, visiting Muslim-majority countries from North Africa to Southeast Asia.[17]
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."[18][19]
During the
2011 Egyptian protests he announced his return to the country. Zewail said that he would join a committee for constitutional reform alongside
Ayman Nour, Mubarak's rival at the 2005 presidential elections and a leading lawyer.[20]
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 and young supporters of
Mohamed ElBaradei.[21] He played a critical role during this time as described by Egyptian Media.
Awards and honours
Zewail's work brought him international attention, receiving awards and honors throughout most of his career for his work in chemistry and physics. In 1999, Zewail became the first Egyptian to receive a science
Nobel Prize when he was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[6] Zewail gave his Nobel Lecture on "Femtochemistry: Atomic-Scale Dynamics of the Chemical Bond Using Ultrafast Lasers".[22][23]
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.[44][45]
Zewail married Dema Faham in 1989.[1] Zewail and Faham had two sons, Nabeel and Hani.[46][47]
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.[48][49][50] Zewail returned to Egypt, but only his body was received at Cairo Airport.[44] A military funeral was held for Zewail on August 7, 2016, at the El-Mosheer Tantawy mosque in Cairo, Egypt.[50] Those attending included President
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Prime Minister
Sherif Ismail, al-Azhar Grand Imam
Ahmed el-Tayeb, Defence Minister
Sedki Sobhi, former President
Adly Mansour, former Prime Minister
Ibrahim Mahlab and heart surgeon
Magdi Yacoub.[50] The funeral prayers were led by
Ali Gomaa, former
Grand Mufti of Egypt.[51][50]
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
Chergui, Majed; Marcus, Rudolph A.; Thomas, John Meurig; Zhong, Dongping (2017). Majed Chergui; Rudolph A Marcus; John Meurig Thomas; Dongping Zhong (eds.). Personal and Scientific Reminiscences: Tributes to Ahmed Zewail. World Scientific.
doi:
10.1142/q0128.
ISBN978-1-78634-435-9.
Douhal, Abderrazzak; Baskin, John Spencer; Zhong, Dongping (2017). Abderrazzak Douhal; John Spencer Baskin; Dongping Zhong (eds.). Reminiscences of Ahmed H. Zewail: Photons, Electrons and What Else? A Portrait from Close Range. Remembrances of his Group Members and Family. World Scientific.
doi:
10.1142/10750.
ISBN978-981-323-153-5.
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.[44]
^Zewail, Ahmed (1975). Optical and magnetic resonance spectra of triplet excitons and localized states in molecular crystals (PhD thesis). University of Pennsylvania.
OCLC54507972.
^Zewail, Ahmed.
"A Message from the Director". Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology, California Institute of Technology. Archived from
the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.