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Egyptian Nobel prize chemist Ahmed Zewail laid to rest in Cairo

Egypt

A military funeral has been held in the Egyptian capital Cairo for the late Nobel laureate, Ahmed Zewail who died in the United States aged 70.

The funeral, broadcast live on television, was attended by president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as well as military leaders, public officials and Zewail’s family.

Zewail who served as a science and technology adviser to US president Barack Obama, was accorded a military funeral since he was a recipient of Egypt’s highest honour, the Grand Collar of the Nile.

A military cortege escorted the casket with the remains of the Nobel laureate through the streets of Cairo to the 6th October cemetery in the upscale eastern suburb of Cairo where he was buried.

Zewail who was also appointed the first US science envoy to the Middle East and Egypt is credited with developing a new research field dubbed four-dimensional electron microscopy.

He was awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1999.

He has authored some 600 scientific articles and 16 books and also began building a science and technology city in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

In 2014, Zewail published an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times after the ouster of Mohammed Morsi, urging the US government to constructively engage with Egypt rather than threatening to cut off aid.

Born in the city of Damanhur, northwest of Cairo, Zewail got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Alexandria University before later moving to the United States to study for his doctoral degree.

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