Ahmed Hassan Zewail (Arabic: أحمد حسن زويل, IPA: [ˈæħmæd ˈħæsæn zeˈweːl]; born February 26, 1946) is an Egyptian-American scientist, known as the "father of femtochemistry", he won the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry. He is the Linus Pauling Chair Professor Chemistry and Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology.
Birth and educationAhmed Hassan Zewail, was born on February 26, 1946 in Damanhour, Egypt and was raised in Alexandria. His father Hassan assembled bicycles and motorcycles and later became a government official. His parents remained married for 50 years, until Hassan died on October 22, 1992.
He received a bachelor's and an MS degree from the University of Alexandria before moving from Egypt to the United States to complete his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania with advisor Robin Hochstrasser. While at the University of Alexandria he met his wife, Mervat. She accompanied him to the University of Pennsylvania. At the university, Ahmed completed his Ph.D. and they had their first child. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley with advisor Charles B. Harris.
Academic careerAfter some post doctorate work at UC-Berkeley, he was awarded a faculty appointment at Caltech in 1976, where he has remained since, and in 1990, he was made the first Linus Pauling Chair in Chemical Physics. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1982.
Zewail has been nominated and will participate 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.