Personally, I have been enriched by my experiences in Egypt and America, and feel fortunate to have been endowed with a true passion for knowledge. – Ahmed Zewail
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. – Ahmed Zewail
On Sunday August 5, 2012, I was among a group of people who witnessed the Rover landing on Mars in real time at NASA’s Caltech-managed Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. – Ahmed Zewail
The so-called Arab Spring has proved that the fall of a Mubarak-like presidency does not mean the immediate rise of democracy. In spite of this, I am confident that Egypt will not return to an authoritarian governing system again, and that, with some time, it will achieve its democratic goals. – Ahmed Zewail
I think I succeeded in getting the Egyptian people excited about the importance of science, and this is the only way Egypt can get out of this dark ages. – Ahmed Zewail
Higher education should be based on quality, not quantity; receive merit-based funding; and be free of unnecessary bureaucracy. Not the least of the benefits of educational reform is to foster the pride of achievement at national and international levels. – Ahmed Zewail
On the banks of the Nile, the Rosetta branch, I lived an enjoyable childhood in the City of Disuq, which is the home of the famous mosque, Sidi Ibrahim. – Ahmed Zewail
The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salifist parties are a real force in the Egyptian society. – Ahmed Zewail
Syria is the proud heir of an ancient civilization that has a unique spectrum of minorities that encompasses Muslims and Christians of various denominations. There are at least ten such ethnic and religious groups. – Ahmed Zewail
It turns out all molecular and biological systems have speeds of the atoms move inside them; the fastest possible speeds are determined by their molecular vibrations, and this speed is about a kilometre per second. – Ahmed Zewail
Egypt had the first constitution in the Middle East that allowed for liberty. And it had democracy. – Ahmed Zewail
In the 1960s, I personally lived the resounding impact of President Nasser’s vision of constructing Aswan’s High Dam as a ‘national project’ for controlling the Nile irrigation and the production of electricity. – Ahmed Zewail
From the dawn of history, science has probed the universe of unknowns, searching for the uniting laws of nature. – Ahmed Zewail
I’d rather have the influence than the power, and the influence to me is to build institutions of independence and democracy, to regain for Egypt prestige in education and science and technology. – Ahmed Zewail
In the Middle East, it is clear that peace will never be reached without solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A two-state solution must be found and enforced. – Ahmed Zewail
Egypt was the first democracy in the Middle East. Women were unveiled in the 1920s. Egypt is a country of civilization, of culture. It shouldn’t be suffering. – Ahmed Zewail
Once we understand how molecules are formed, we can manipulate them. If you can manipulate molecules, you can manipulate genes and matter, you can synthesize new material – the implications are just unbelievable. – Ahmed Zewail
I can tell you that the majority of the Egyptians I know, they think of a much wider spectrum of people than the Muslim Brotherhood. – Ahmed Zewail
Let me put it this way: There is nothing in Islam that is fundamentally against the quest for knowledge. – Ahmed Zewail
Syria may appear to be a small country, but it is just the type of entangled conflict that can lead to a world catastrophe. It does not take much imagination to see Syria as the Sarajevo of the 21st century, leading to world war. – Ahmed Zewail
