Top 35 Ahmed Zewail Quotes

Our femtosecond snapshots can examine a molecule at discrete instants in time.

Everybody in the world is – is ready for liberty. It’s a question of how you do it.

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.

I am not one of the new media experts working all the time with my computers and the PowerPoints and things of that sort.

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.

In addition to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, which is crucial to U.S. interests both domestically and in the Middle East, the U.S. has had and will continue to need Egypt’s collaboration in the war on terrorism.

Although the Nasser revolution of 1952 was secular, the culture remained deeply religious – but it was a faith of moderation and tolerance. 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.

The mosque was the neighbourhood house of worship, but it was also the place where my high school friends and I came to study.

The family’s dream was to see me receive a high degree abroad and to return to become a university professor – on the door to my study room, a sign was placed reading ‘Dr. Ahmed,’ even though I was still far from becoming a doctor.

We must nurture creative scientists in an environment that encourages interactions and collaborations across different fields, and support research free from weighty bureaucracies.

There is little doubt that an unstable Syria will destabilize the whole Middle East.

From the dawn of history, science has probed the universe of unknowns, searching for the uniting laws of nature.

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.

As a cultural product of both ‘East’ and ‘West’, I do not believe there is a fundamental basis for a clash of civilisations, or that the West is the cause of all problems.

Growing up in Egypt, I never saw the country as divided as it is today. We now have two main political groupings: the Islamist parties and the civil, or liberal, political parties.

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.

Investment in education and economic prosperity is the best way to cure fanaticism and for establishing a just peace in the Middle East.

When I was a boy in Desuq, Egypt, a city on the Rosetta branch of the Nile, about 50 miles east of Alexandria, my family lived steps away from the local landmark, a mosque named for a 13th-century Sufi sheik.

It is true that Egypt’s attempt at democracy after the 2011 revolution encountered many obstacles in governance and infrastructure.

Every effort should be made to help build the new democratic nation with reconciliation and forgiveness, for the sake of Egypt and not for the benefit of a party or a group.

Human resources are just tremendous in Egypt, but we need the science base; we need the correct science base.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salifist parties are a real force in the Egyptian society. No civil, liberal government can succeed, even after new elections, if the Islamists are forced to work underground as a foe and the country remains divided.

After World War II, scientific research in the U.S. was well supported. In the 1960s, when I came to America, the sky was the limit, and this conducive atmosphere enabled many of us to pursue esoteric research that resulted in America winning the lion’s share of Nobel Prizes.

Secularism will not work in Egypt any more than theocracy. What will work is governance that is guided by the Islamic values of the majority with protection of the minority rights.

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.

The youth movement is aware that old visions can not take Egypt into the future.

The co-existence of religious values in the lives of individuals and secular rules in the governance of the state should be clearly defined.

In the 1970s, what I, as a young foreign student studying in the United States, found most dynamic, exciting and impressive about this country is what much of the world continues to value most about the U.S. today: its open intellectual culture, its great universities, its capacity for discovery and innovation.

In today’s world, America’s soft power is commonly thought to reside in the global popularity of Hollywood movies, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Starbucks.

Mubarak came to power as a hero who fought bravely in Egypt’s wars and headed the nation’s air force.

As someone from, and directly involved with, this part of the world, I am convinced Arabs are qualified to regain their glorious past.

I teach at Caltech and oversee a research laboratory there. In general, I find that the majority of young people are excited by the prospects of research, but they soon discover that in the current market, many doctorate-level scientists are holding temporary positions or are unemployed.

In Egypt, every family is suffering from the deteriorated schooling and university system of the Mubarak regime. What families want most of all is to secure a good education for their children.

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.

Reading was and still is my real joy.