Al-Masry Al-Youm has learnt that the Ministry of Social Solidarity has banned Mostafa el-Sayed, who has been awarded the top US National Medal of Science, from being a founding member of a scientific NGO, as he has both the Egyptian and the US nationality. Dr. el-Sayed is the director of the Laser Dynamics Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Tomorrow he is going to take part in the inauguration of the Mansoura-based NGO. According to a press release, this NGO aims to develop the spirit of science and culture in Egypt and the Arab World and to build direct communication channels between top scientists, Egyptian intellectuals and the Egyptian society. In response to the refusal by¬ the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the NGO granted the honorary membership to Dr. el-Sayed – he is due to receive it today – and Dr. Rafouk el-Baz, an Egyptian scientist director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University. Dr. el-Baz said he was happy to receive this membership, pointing that NGOs have demonstrated their role in people's progress. Dr. Ahmed Akasha, President of the World Psychiatric Organization and one of the founders, said to Al-Masry Al-Youm: "In Egypt, we need to encourage scientific culture and not pop one", making it clear that the NGO aims to raise the awareness of the public opinion, workers and businessmen about the importance of science. The NGO Director General Amr Hetta said in a statement yesterday that the organization had been founded to gather Egyptian scientists throughout the world and resort to them in rebuilding trust in the Egyptian society, so that they can be a model for young researchers. Among the founding members of this NGO are former Transportation Minister Essam Sharaf, the President of the British University Ahmed Hamza, and several other professors from different hospitals and universities.
