Zoweil: Egypt must have its own integrated technological base for 21st Century
Egyptian renowned scientist Ahmed Zoweil, 1999 Nobel Chemistry Prize winner, said yesterday Egypt needs its special integrated technological base to enable it to enter the 21st Century armed with a clear and genuine base tailored according to its own requirements and civilization.
"Egypt is witnessing the best times of its contemporary history," he said, referring in this respect to President Hosni Mubarak interest in building a technological base for the country.
"Egypt needs an integrated technological base, one that would incorporate all sciences and mirror the nation's requirements, Zoweil told "Good Morning Egypt" television program this week.
The base is to provide group interaction for scientists and provide the younger generations with the latest scientific achievements.
"Egypt is badly in need of this base, to enable it to enter the 21st Century with achievements in science and technology," he said.
"Egypt has very successful scientists in the country and abroad, but they work on an individual basis, rather than as a group," he added. Zoweil is in Washington to meet President Bill Clinton prior to his departure for Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize within days.
He deserved the prize for his pioneer use of rapid-fire laser beams to illuminate atoms motion in a molecule. "It is unacceptable for Egypt, a country with such a great civilization and history, not to have solid scientific institutions to render scientists even better than Zoweil in the future," he said. "The fate of a nation can only be changed by its people, and if Egypt aspires to promote its scientific base, only Egyptians will be able to do it," he added.
"Egyptians are the ones to set their clear, genuine and appropriate plan for progress, and at a later stage, there would be nothing wrong with dealing with a foreign party, and this is the norm followed in all countries around the world," Zoweil said.
"There must be a clear Egyptian plan, because Egypt is different from Japan and US, it is a country with its own history, people, religion and culture, and when its scientific plan is tailored, all these matters must be taken into consideration," he added.
Zoweil used rapid laser beams for groundbreaking research which helped explain the way the human eye adjusts to the dark and the way plants convert light to food in photosynthesis.
His technique, using what could be described as the world's fastest camera, makes it possible to watch individual atoms during a chemical reactions in the same way that viewers can watch details of a football match in a slow-motion replay.
He holds the Linus Pauling chair of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California.