A sparkling star in the world of science, Dr. Ahmed Zewail, the Egyptian-born, American scientist has been recently the focus of both official and popular celebrations in his home country. 

At the age of 44, The California Institute of Technology has selected chemist Ahmed Zewail to be the school's first Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Physics. The recently established professorship honors the career and achievements of the two-time Nobel laureate. 

Zewail said it is a "special honor" to be named the first Pauling Professor. "I feel Pauling is the greatest chemist of the 20th century," Zewail says. "He has had a tremendous impact on my work and [on that] of every chemist in the world." 

In 1995 he received the Order of Merit, first class, from President Mubarak in appreciation of the vital role he played to enrich science all over the world, 
and in 1998 a Postage Stamp, with Portrait, was issued by Egypt, he also holds honorary degrees from the American University (Cairo). 

Dr. Zewail, 52,was also awarded the 198-year old "Benjamin Franklin" Prize for the contributions he made in serving the realm of science. 

He won this international recognition after his latest discovery known as the Femto Second, which is the smallest part of the second. Philadelphia was the venue of the great celebration that was held on April 30 this year, as Egyptians all over the world fixed their eyes on the Philadelphia-based headquarters of Benjamin Franklin Foundation, where a key Egyptian scientist received the United States' most prestigious scientific award. 

Zewail is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Third World Academy of Sciences, He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities. 
his honors include the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship; the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award; the Alexander von Humboldt Award for Senior United States Scientists; the American Chemical Society's Buck-Whitney Medal in 1985; the Harrison Howe Award; and the King Faisal International Prize. 

Over his long career, Zoweil managed to harvest an array of awards and medals, including the Welch Award in 1997,  The Leonardo DaVinci Award of Excellence in 1995, the Wolf Prize in 1992, the Herbert P. Broida Award from the American Physical Society in 1995 and the ACS Peter Debye Award in 1996. 

His international awards also include the Medal of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and  Sciences. 

Zewail also holds honorary degrees from Oxford University (UK), Katholieke University (Leuven, Belgium), University of Pennsylvania (USA), Universite de Lausanne (Switzerland), and Swinburne University (Australia). He gave more than one hundred named and plenary lectures, and he has been named the John van Geuns Stichting Professor at University of Amsterdam, Rolf Sammet Professor at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Christensen Professorial Fellow at Oxford, and Röntgen Professor at the University of Würzburg. He served as Visiting Professor at the University of Bordeaux, Ecole Normale Superieure, University of California, Los Angeles, American University, Cairo, Texas A&M, University of Iowa, College de France, and Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium.