Ahmed Zewail
An Egyptian chemist who used lasers as a camera to film molecules in motion, winning a Nobel Prize for his revolutionary stop-motion view of chemistry.
1946–2016 (age 70)·Egyptian and American chemist·Birthday: February 26·Baby Boomers
Biography
Ahmed Zewail transformed the way we see the invisible world. Growing up in Desouk, Egypt, his early education was in Arabic, yet he mastered the language of science to such a degree that he redefined an entire field. At Caltech, he pioneered femtochemistry, a technique using ultrafast laser flashes lasting millionths of a billionth of a second. For the first time, scientists could not just infer chemical reactions but actually watch bonds break and form in real time, as if making a molecular movie. His 1999 Nobel Prize was a landmark, the first for an Egyptian scientist. Beyond the lab, Zewail became a passionate advocate for science in the Arab world, founding a research university in Egypt and serving as a science envoy for the United States, tirelessly working to build bridges between cultures through knowledge.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Ahmed was born in 1946, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Ahmed Was Born
The biggest hits of 1946
#1 Movie
The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Picture
The Best Years of Our Lives
Ahmed's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1946Born
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1951Started school
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1959Became a teenager
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1962Could drive
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1964Could vote
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1967Turned 21
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1976Turned 30
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1986Turned 40
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1996Turned 50
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2006Turned 60
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
2016Turned 70
Donald Trump elected president; Brexit vote
Gas: $2.14/galHome: $181,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Love Yourself" — Justin BieberBest Picture: Moonlight
Key Achievements
- Awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering work in femtochemistry.
- Became the first Linus Pauling Chair Professor of Chemical Physics at the California Institute of Technology.
- Founded the Zewail City of Science and Technology in Cairo, a nonprofit research university.
- Was appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in the United States.
Did You Know?
He was awarded the Egyptian Order of Merit, the nation's highest state honor.
Zewail served on the board of trustees for the University of California, Santa Barbara.
An asteroid, 13371 Zewail, is named in his honor.
He held both Egyptian and American citizenship.
“You have to be obsessed to be a Nobel laureate.”
