Ahmed H. Zewail (1946-2016)
© 2016 EPFL
On August 2nd 2016, Caltech Professor and Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zewail passed away at the age of 70.
Among his numerous Distinctions, he received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the EPFL in 2009, on a nomination by the ISIC. Back in the mid-1980s, he was the first to use femtosecond laser technology to solve problems in chemistry and biology. In this respect, he implemented the so-called pump-probe method in the femtosecond time domain, which he applied systematically to problems of growing complexity. This culminated in his earning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1999. Parallel to these achievements, throughout the 1990s, he also pioneered ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy, demonstrating their power at solving problems in chemistry, biology and materials science. He had a strong connection with the Chemistry at the EPFL dating back to the 1980s. Also, two young professors, one of them at the ISIC, are former postdocs in his group.
M. Chergui
Lausanne Centre for Ultrafast Science (LACUS)