Nobel Laureate, Caltech Professor and San Marino resident Ahmed Zewail elaborated on his plans for the Zewail City of Science and Technology—a Caltech-like institution to be built outside of Cairo—according to a Pasadena Star-News article Saturday.
.
Some aspects of the proposed institution, as mentioned in the article, are as follows:
- Zewail, a native Egyptian, has wanted to build the center for about 12 years, but said his dealings with former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s prime minister were difficult.
- The institute’s Board of Trustees includes six Nobel Prize winners and Caltech President Jean Kou Chameau.
- Classes will be small and focused on areas where Egypt can excel—solar and wind energy, disease research specific to the continent, and eventually nanosciences and images.
- The project will cost about $2 billion; Zewail has raised about $100 million from private sources so far and hopes the Egyptian government will contribute roughly the same amount annually.
- Egypt’s Supreme Council of Armed Forces gave Zewail a downtown Cairo villa and 300 acres of prime desert land for the property—all worth about $1.6 billion.
.
