Kuwait Times

Published Date: March 26, 2007

KUWAIT: The Board of Directors of Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), under the chairmanship of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber A1-Sabah, held its annual meeting on March 18, and approved the recommendations of the Prize Council in selecting the winners of the Kuwait Prize 2006 as follows:

In Basic Sciences (Optical Science), the winner is Prof Dr Bahaa Saleh, (Egyptian national) who is Chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Deputy Director of the Centre for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems at Boston University, USA. Professor Saleh is an internationally renowned scientist who has made major contributions in the field of quantum optics, especially in the field of squeezed and entangled states of light, and their applications, and the determination in general of the optical correlation function of special states of light.

The high impact of his research is measured by a large number of citations comparable with the 2005 Noble Prize winner in quantum optics, Prof Roy Glauber of Harvard University. The work focuses strongly on statistical and quantum optics, making advances in fundamental science and new applications and devices. Prof Saleh has been elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as well as a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. These are the world's leading organisations in the field of optical science, and the title of Fellow is the highest offered to select members in recognition of their exceptional contributions.

In Applied Sciences (Corrosion), the winner is Prof Dr Faiza Mohammed Al-Kharafi (Kuwaiti national) who is a Professor of Chemistry at Kuwait University. Prof Al-Kharafi earned a BSc degree from Am Shams University, Egypt and MSc and PhD degrees from Kuwait University. She holds a record of high productivity in several areas of corrosion science and engineering such as; the electrochemical behaviour of vanadium, niobium, aluminium and their respective alloys, cadmium, copper, brass, cobalt, molybdenum and low carbon steel, which all have been examined under controlled conditions. In addition, Al-Kharafi has employed her expertise in several major studies on the impact of corrosion on commonly used systems in the State of Kuwait, including crude oil distillation units, engine cooling systems, tap water, high temperature geothermal brines, corrosion in polluted water as well as metal corrosion due to pollution.

The Prize for Kuwaiti citizens in the fields of Basic Sciences, Economics and Social Sciences, Arts and Literature and Arabic and Islamic Scientific Heritage has been withheld. The Prize for Arab nationals in the fields of Applied Sciences, Economics and Social Sciences, Arts and Literature and Islamic Scientific Heritage has also been withheld, officials said.