Zoweil: No bias in nomination for Nobel prize

Ahmed Zoweil, 1999 Nobel Chemistry Prize Winner, said he received some 5,000 congratulations in two weeks from all around the world.

"The messages that touched him the most were from renowned scientists around the world who appreciate the value of the Nobel Prize," he said at a press conference in Stockholm on Sunday.

"Egyptians wrote me e-mails or faxed me with emotional messages that come from the heart," he added.

"President Hosni Mubarak," he said,"telephoned him at home to congratulate him and they spoke as if they were sitting together on the banks of the Nile".

"The President told him that he wanted to honor him in Egypt," he said.

Zoweil said he appreciated all the love and pride of the Egyptian people, from the man in the street to the President. "Some people from Al-Hussein neighborhood sent him a card, in addition to thousands of messages, which all reflected the glory of the Egyptian people," he added.

"Nominations for the Nobel Prize," he said, "are made in a very special way and as a scientist," adding that he himself nominated other scientists each year.

"Some people in Egypt thought that bias was exercised in the nominations for the prize, and that he should have received it earlier," he said.

"But he was telling them there was no bias in science," he added.

"The President of the Swedish Academy telephoned him to inform him of the news," he said.

"The Swedish are very refined people, to the extent that they thanked him after receiving the prize," he added.

"The telephone call lasted for five minutes and was then broadcast to the whole world on the Internet," he added.