Born in 1946 in Damanhur, Egypt, Zewail is an Egyptian American chemist, and the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering work on femtochemistry. The study of chemical reactions across femtoseconds, using a rapid ultrafast laser technique.

This key work has enabled scientists to analyse transition states in selected chemical reactions, as the technique allows the description of reactions on very short time scales.

He received his first degree from the University of Alexandria, before moving from Egypt to the United States to complete his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.

After post doctorate work at the University of California, Berkeley, he was awarded a faculty appointment at Caltech in 1976, where he has remained ever since.

He became a naturalised citizen of the United States in 1982, and in 1990, he was made the first Linus Pauling Chair in Chemical Physics.

In 1999, Zewail became the third ethnic Egyptian to receive the Nobel Prize, following in the footsteps of Egyptians Anwar Sadat and Naguib Mahfouz.

Other international awards include the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1993) and the Robert A. Welch Award (1997).

In 1999, he received Egypt's highest state honour, the Grand Collar of the Nile. Cambridge University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in Science in 2006.
 
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