And the other thing also which I’m hoping for is that the government in Egypt is willing and interested in promoting science and technology and this is an ideal time now to be able to do something.
AHMED ZEWAILWhen they called me with the Nobel call from Secretary General of the Swedish Academy it was twenty minutes to six and he said well that was well hope I’m not disturbing you but I am the Secretary General of the Swedish Academy.
More Ahmed Zewail Quotes
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I built on the efforts of a previous scientist, others will build on the work I’m doing and if I look at the whole scope from chemistry to biology to physics, it’s just the list is too long to mention just one and it’s not fair to the others.
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You should have some time to think and that’s very important.
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Of course you can imagine I was frozen in time when he said that but then he made a very famous statement, something to the effect that this is the last 20 minutes of peace of your life.
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Women made up nearly half my class at university, and my senior academic adviser there was a woman. In Alexandria, my friends were Christians and Muslims.
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I think the Nobel Prize helps for a number of reasons. Number one, if I can be frank, there is these people will feel by getting a Nobel Prize that I’m one of them, that it is possible to contribute on the world map of science and technology.
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I don’t know all the reasons for these achievements, but I know that I love what I do and I have never wanted to rest on my laurels.
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As a child, I thought I was immortal, but now I recognize how limited a time we all have. As a child, success meant scoring A on every exam, but now I take it to mean good health, close family and friends, achieve- ments in my work, and helping others.
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I do have a concern however, humanity has a great way of adapting and I’m sure scientists of the future, probably after I leave this planet, earth will have a new way of dealing with the internet but I do have a concern in the transition period.
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But the universe at large is full of questions that we still don’t know anything about and there will be always young people brilliant who are going to make new discoveries.
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Human resources are just tremendous in Egypt but we need the science base.
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The fastest possible speeds are determined by their molecular vibrations and this speeds is about a kilometre per second.
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When they called me with the Nobel call from Secretary General of the Swedish Academy it was twenty minutes to six and he said well that was well hope I’m not disturbing you but I am the Secretary General of the Swedish Academy.
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So, I’m an old fashioned still in this regard but these are the moment where I really can be creative, if I am, to be left alone with just a book and piece of paper and to be thinking.
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I am not one of the new media experts working all the time with my computers and the PowerPoint’s and things of that sort.
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I came from Egypt and I owe Egypt a lot to what I am now.
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Electrons and possibly x-rays to be able to get the architecture of these molecules, the molecular structures themselves, of very complex biological systems. That’s the ultimate goal.
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When I give a lecture on Egypt there are thousands of people in the lecture hall, so obviously they would like to go to science and they would love to do science, but you really have to get the correct science base in order for them to interact.
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I do feel that there are tremendous amount of talent in Egypt, human resources.
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We still don’t understand how the big bang and evolving all the way to the human species and so on. So all of this is going to be a very, very exciting to the new people.
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So, that’s my intention to focus my efforts there and I hope I will be able to do so.
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If you like, there is a Guinness time. The reason for that it’s fundamental. It is not that we have to keep shortening the time. It turns out all molecular and biological systems have speeds of the atoms move inside them.
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For me to sit down here, even as a Nobel Laureate and make a prediction about which science I think that will be a mistake.
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Invest in basic research and recruit the best minds.
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We don’t work like the best basketball player and the best musician and so on. Science is a collective effort.
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Although the Nasser revolution of 1952 was secular, the culture remained deeply religious – but it was a faith of moderation and tolerance.
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Think about the whole world of biological complex sciences. We still don’t understand the way a protein folds the way it does.
AHMED ZEWAIL