Mubarak confers Zowail Nile Collar

President Hosni Mubarak will today confer the Nile Collar on Dr. Ahmed Zowail, Nobel prize laureate in Chemistry.

Meanwhile, Egypt's scientists led by Minister of Higher Education and of State Minister for Scientific Research Mofid Shihab, will be on hand to welcome Ahmed Zowail, upon arrival Wednesday at Cairo airport.

His arrival will trigger off a series of celebrations and ceremonies, to be crowned on Thursday by a large gathering of prominent scientific and famous personalities during which President Hosni Mubarak will confer on Egypt's famous son the Collar of the Nile.

Shihab told the Middle East News Agency (MENA) that the Supreme Universities Council and the Higher Council of Research Centers and Institutes will organize a scientific festival on December 15-31 including a series of lectures, seminars, exhibits, and scientific leaflets in response to recommendations of Egypt's scientists, professors and researchers.

"Cultural Centers abroad will also celebrate the occasion," Shihab said, adding that a special edition of Masr Al-Oloom (Egypt Sciences) issued by the Higher Council of Research Centers and Institutes, will be dedicated to Dr. Ahmed Zowail's life, research papers, past and future achievements, in addition to means of benefiting from his scientific genius in his homeland.

The Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport is also to confer on Zowail, an honorary doctorate.

The Alexandria-based Academy, an offshoot of the Arab League, said the scientific degree displays appreciation to the Nobel laureate of the year for pioneering the use of rapid-fire laser flashes that illuminate motion of atoms in a molecule by innovating the tiny measure of femtosecond.