In this unique illustrated book, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, senior visiting scholars, and staff describe their personal experiences in working with the late Prof. Ahmed H. Zewail at Caltech. Their reminiscences provide snapshots of their rich interactions, reflecting the great scientific achievements, as well as the human and humorous sides of Ahmed H. Zewail.

The contributors tell us their stories covering a period of forty years, beginning from the time of Zewail's arrival at Caltech in 1976. Some of them cover the time when Zewail was starting his pioneering work on femtochemistry at the end of 80's, while others relate events long after he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1999) and had embarked on a new career in ultrafast electron imaging. The aims and scope of this book is to provide both scientists and non-scientists descriptions of the experiences of scientists in the early or mature stages of their careers when interacting with one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, from developing the field of femtochemistry to pioneering ultrafast electron diffraction and imaging technology. The personal dimension of Zewail's leadership is reflected in all the contributions, and highlighted by special tributes from two of his children.

The scientific and anecdotal stories recounted in the book give a rare view of experiences in shaping science. The reader will get firsthand accounts of how a Nobel Prize winner interacted daily with his co-workers to develop the laser-based science and technology for which he was internationally recognized. The recounted experiences may serve as a basis for scientists developing their own research, tutoring students, and supervising postdoctoral researchers.

Contents: Ahmed Zewail: Scientist, Humanitarian, and My Father (Maha Zewail-Foote)Pushing the Frontiers (Nabeel Zewail)Zewail's Beginning at Caltech (Daniel R. Dawson)The Early Years with Ahmed at Caltech (Rajiv R. Shah)In the Shadow of a Voyage through Time (Jack A. Syage)Meeting Ahmed Zewail (Isaac de Melo Xavier, Jr.)Some Memories with Zewail (Fida F. Al-Adel)Memories of the Inimitable Ahmed Zewail (Spencer Baskin)Ahmed Zewail Memory Tribute (Lawrence W. Peng)Under the Influence of Ahmed Zewail (Marcos Dantus)The Days of Femtochemistry at Caltech (Martin Gruebele)Remembering Ahmed Zewail (Lynne Martinez)Challenging Ahmed's Sense of Humour (Michael Gutmann)Insights on Molecular Structure and Real Time Dynamics: An Energy Flow Inspiration by Ahmed Zewail (Luis Bañares)In Memory of Dr. Ahmed H. Zewail (Charlie Qianli Liu)Where Science, There Sunshine (Thomas Baumert)Working as a Postdoc at Caltech (Christoph Lienau)Remembrance of Ahmed Zewail (Hua Guo)Dear Professor Ahmed Zewail (Sang Kyu Kim)My Memories of a Giant (Dongping Zhong)Recollections of My Days with Professor Ahmed H. Zewail (Po-Yuan James Cheng)A Secretary's Recollections (Mary Sexton)Hoy and Ah (Hyotcherl Ihee)Time Working with AZ (Chaozhi Wan)Not Such an Important Man: He Does Not Have Personal Security (Abderrazzak Douhal)The Affinity Between Me and Ahmed Zewail (Eric Wei-Guang Diau)Ahmed Zewail — The Making of a Man and Great Scientist (Torsten Fiebig)Personal Reminiscences of Ahmed H. Zewail (Thorsten M Bernhardt)A Great Mind, a Great Mentor (Steven De Feyter)My Journey through Zewail's Femtoland (Boyd Goodson)Small Encounters Big Impacts (Shouzhong Zou)Impact of a Nobel Prize on the Far Side of the Earth (Samir Kumar Pal)Looking Beyond the Surface, My Recollection of the Man and the Work at Caltech (Chong-Yu Ruan)Ahmed H. Zewail: A Charismatic Scientific Giant (Niels Engholm Henriksen)For the Zewail Memoir (Jon Feenstra)The Beach? (Theis I Sølling)A Beautiful Bridge — Remembering AZ (Tianbing Xia)From México to Pasadena and Back: The Pleasure and Honour of Knowing Ahmed Zewail (Jorge Peón)An Ultrafast Life in Femtoland (Yuhong Wang)A Capturing Moment with AZ (Amisha Kizhakkedathu)A Decade with Dr. Ahmed Zewail and Beyond (Ding-Shyue (Jerry) Yang)Voyage through Femtoland (I-Ren Lee)Seeing Beyond My Vision (Roberto A. Garza-López)My Friend Ahmed and I (Bengt Nordén)A Mini Voyage through Time: From n-Butane to Biological Macromolecules (Dmitry Shorokhov)I'm Just Thinking Aloud with You! (Milo M. Lin)A Recall of My Stay with Dr. Zewail at Caltech (Aiguo Wu)My Personal Memory of Dr. Zewail and his Femtoland Frozen in Time (Oh-Hoon Kwon)Pizza, Mandolin, Pyramids, Carpets, and Science (Fabrizio Carbone)Ahmed Zewail (William F. Tivol)The Fast and the Slow in Life (Wenxi Liang)A Polar Star in Science (Giovanni Maria Vanacore)Endless Passion for Science: Witness the Last Four Years of Dr. Zewail (Jianbo Hu)The Art of Smile through Time (Bin Chen)Never Limit Your Mind — Memorial for Professor Zewail (Xuewen Fu)Macroscopic Coherence (Mohammed Kaplan)
Readership: Students, practitioners and researchers in chemistry, physical chemistry and physics interested in learning about one of the great minds in physical chemistry. 
Keywords:Zewail;Caltech;Femtochemistry;Femtobiology;Femtoscience;Lasers;Ultrafast Reactions;Dynamics;Microscopy;Electron DiffractionReview:Key Features:Untold stories between a Nobel Prize winner and his co-workersHow the development of Femtochemistry was lived by direct playersStories of imminent scientists in FemtochemistryHow femtochemistry started at CaltechZewail and his co-workers at Femtoland

John Spencer Baskin