Amsterdam, 2 October 2008 – The Editors of the leading international journal Chemical Physics Letters (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/cplett) are pleased to announce that the second Ahmed Zewail Prize in Molecular Sciences has been awarded to Professor Mostafa El-Sayed from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, for his seminal contributions to the understanding of the electronic and molecular dynamics and properties of systems with different length scales, ranging from molecules to nanoparticles to biomedical systems. The Prize consists of a monetary award of $20,000 and will be presented during the 2009 Spring meeting of the American Chemical Society, in Salt Lake City, USA.
Mostafa El-Sayed has made broad fundamental contributions to many research areas in the field of electronic and molecular dynamics. His pioneering experiments have yielded deeper understanding of the mechanisms of electronic dynamics in many systems of different length scales ranging from gaseous molecules; ions; gaseous clusters; molecules in condensed phase; amorphous and crystalline solids; nanoparticles and photo biological systems.
Nobel Laureate Professor Ahmed Zewail, in whose name the Prize is honoured, remarked: "Mostafa has made outstanding contributions in many areas of physical chemistry, bringing his creative ideas and insightful perspectives to molecular sciences. I am overjoyed that Mostafa has been selected for his impressive scientific accomplishments. Above all, we are all grateful for his untiring service to the scientific community."
Dr. Karel Nederveen, Publisher at Elsevier, commented: "I am delighted with the choice of Professor El-Sayed as the second Ahmed Zewail Prize winner. I thank both the nominators and the 9 leading scientists in the Voting Committee, who helped the Editors in making such an exceptional choice from a field of close to 40, very strong, nominations."
About Mostafa El-Sayed
Mostafa El-Sayed was born in Egypt. He obtained his doctoral degree from Florida State University working with Michael Kasha. He spent time as a researcher at Harvard, Yale and the California Institute of Technology before joining the University of California at Los Angeles in 1961. In 1994 he became the Julius Brown Chair and Regents Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology. El-Sayed was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1980, and won the Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics in 2002. Furthermore, in 1990 he received the King Faisal International Prize in Sciences, and Georgia Tech's highest award "The Distinguished Professor of the Year" in 2007. He received an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University, and several other awards. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Physical Chemistry from 1980 – 2004. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Third World Academy of Science. He was awarded the 2007 US National Medal of Science. For further information on Mostafa El-Sayed: www.chemistry.gatech.edu/faculty/El-Sayed
About the Ahmed Zewail Prize in Molecular Sciences
The Ahmed Zewail Prize in Molecular Sciences is a biennial award sponsored by Elsevier in collaboration with the international journal Chemical Physics Letters. Named for the journal's Honorary Advisory Editor Professor Zewail, who received the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Prize is awarded to individual scientists who have made significant and creative contributions of a fundamental nature to any of the disciplines of molecular sciences. The winner's research activities may cover theoretical and/or experimental aspects of the studies in all phases of matter and biological systems. The Prize consists of a monetary award of $20,000, a Gold Medal and a certificate, and will be presented in person at a special symposium during the Annual Spring meetings of the American Chemical Society. For more information, see the Ahmed Zewail Prize link on: www.elsevier.com/locate/cplett
About Chemical Physics Letters
Chemical Physics Letters is an international rapid communications journal publishing the results of frontier research in chemical physics and physical chemistry, molecular sciences, materials science and biological systems. The Journal celebrated its 40th year of publication in 2007. The Editors of the Journal are currently Professors David Clary (University of Oxford, UK), Mitchio Okumura (California Institute of Technology, USA), Richard Saykally (University of California, Berkeley, USA) and Villy Sundström (Lund University, Sweden). The Editors are supported by an Advisory Editorial Board of about 100 leading scientists. For more information: www.elsevier.com/locate/cplett
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.
Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).