Ahmed H. Zewail
Noble Prize
Ahmed H. Zewail
Place of Birth: Damanhur, Egypt
*still living*
Education:
Bachelor and Masters degree~University of Alexandria
PHD~ University of Pennsylvania
Place of work when awarded prize: California Insitute of Technology
Field of Work: Chemical Kinetics and Physical Chemistry
Interesting Facts:
-Issued a postage stamp by the country of Gana in 2002
-Name in Arabic: أحمد حسن زويل
-is a professor of physics
Explanation of Work
---transition states are different states of molecules in the reaction during the time it takes for the reactants to become products
-the camera triggers the reaction by giving off a strong light pulse and then gives off another light pulse to capture an image
-the image captures a spectrum of light during the reaction, not the actual molecules
-the spectrum of light recorded can be used to identify the transition molecules that form during the reaction
Why did he win?
-his method is used by scientists to identify the steps molecules have to go through during a reaction to get to their end state
-now able to understand, predict, and modify the course of a reaction
-in the future we may be able to manipulate molecules in a reaction
-explains why some reactions happen and others don't
-provided understanding of why reactions are temperature dependent
-has kickstarted a new section of chemistry called 'femtochemistry'
-overall, gave greater understanding of how molecules function during a reaction