A military funeral was held on Sunday morning for late Nobel prize winner Ahmed Zewail. The funeral was attended by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and top state officials.
It was held in New Cairo at the Hussein Tantawy mosque. The prime minister, ministers of defence and foreign affairs, Al-Azhar’s grand imam, and the parliament speaker were among the officials who paid tribute to the late scientist and bid consolation to his family.
Zewail passed away on Tuesday night after his health had deteriorated due to severe lung inflammation. As he had also been suffering from bone marrow cancer, he was unable to tolerate the inflammation. The femtochemist passed away in the United States, and had been planning to visit Egypt in mid-August.
Zewail won the Nobel prize in chemistry for his pioneering work in femtochemistry in 1999—he was the first Arab scientist to win a Nobel prize. Throughout his life, he was awarded many other prizes and was honoured for his contributions to science.
