Zewail book signings scheduled

Ahmed Zewail, the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in chemistry, will be signing copies of his autobiography Voyage Through Time: Walks of Life to the Nobel Prize, at the Caltech Bookstore on Friday, May 10, beginning at noon.

He said the book came about almost as an afterthought.

“In ’97 I was intrigued by a question that an interviewer asked. He wanted to know how I became a scientist,” Zewail said. “I started to write a rough biography, but soon I put it aside without going back to it.

“After I won the Nobel Prize, people wanted to know about my life, and I found that much of the information that was being repeated was not right. Then a publisher friend convinced me to finish the book.”

The book was published in February. It is now in its second printing and is being translated into other languages. Zewail said he will keep none of the profits.

“The royalties will go to a fellowship to help Egyptians study at American universities in science and the humanities,” he said.

Zewail will also be at Vroman’s Bookstore later that same day. At 7 p.m. he will deliver a short discussion, which will be followed by a book signing. Vroman’s is located at 695 E. Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.
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