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.
AHMED ZEWAILIf 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.
More Ahmed Zewail Quotes
-
-
Invest in basic research and recruit the best minds.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
There are many, many books I’ve read and I think this is quite naïve actually because we all just try to uncover something.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
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.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
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.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
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.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
Perhaps the most valuable thing he taught me (his father) was that there is no contradiction between devotion to work and enjoyment of life and people
AHMED ZEWAIL -
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.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
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.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
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.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
One of the things I enjoy most is to be left alone with a book.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
I do feel that there are tremendous amount of talent in Egypt, human resources.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
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 ZEWAIL -
Everybody thinks some times that science is done as a master plan and that somebody like me came from Mars and figured out everything and so on, but that’s really not the way it worked.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
Human resources are just tremendous in Egypt but we need the science base.
AHMED ZEWAIL -
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.
AHMED ZEWAIL