Pasadena : Caltech Chemist Honored

A California Institute of Technology chemist has received a $100,000 award from an Israeli foundation that has been honoring outstanding academics with the prize since 1978.

The Wolf Foundation will present the award to Prof. Ahmed H. Zewail, 46, in Jerusalem on May 16, the organization said.

Zewail has worked at Caltech since 1976 and was honored for pioneering the field of femtochemistry, which tracks chemical reactions in detail. A femtosecond is less than one millionth of a second.

Zewail was able to observe, for the first time, a bond breakage in a molecule, the prize committee said.

Zewail was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.