The California Institute of Technology has selected chemist Ahmed Zewail to be the school's first Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Physics. The recently established professorship honors the career and achievements of the two-time Nobel laureate.
Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1954 for his research on the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances. In 1963, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Zewail, 44, says it is a "special honor" to be named the first Pauling Professor. "I feel Pauling is the greatest chemist of the 20th century," Zewail says. "He has had a tremendous impact on my work and [on that] of every chemist in the world."
Zewail was cited for his research on the development of ultrafast laser techniques for recording the behavior of molecules during chemical reactions (The Scientist, May 29, 1989, page ...
