The Editors of the leading international journal Chemical Physics Letters 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."