After his participation in the “Search for the Origin of the Universe” project with NASA, the American space agency, to be the only Egyptian and Arab participating in the research, Dr. Ahmed Soliman, researcher at Caltech University and NASA’s Missile Propulsion Laboratory, spoke to Al Arabiya.net regarding this project. Research stationed in Antarctica.
Soliman was awarded a medal in the United States as a result of his efforts and research in the field of gravity in Antarctica following going through an arduous journey until he joined Caltech University, which is considered one of the largest universities in the world and in which the Egyptian Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr. Ahmed Zewail was working as a professor and ranked No. 1 worldwide in the field of science.
After Suleiman joined Caltech University, he lived with Dr. Ahmed Zewail for two years before the latter’s death. Solomon was influenced by Zewail, which is the main reason why he switched to studying science, even though he is an engineering graduate.
Dr. Ahmed Suleiman
Suleiman told Al Arabiya.net his journey “from a simple person with ambition and many dreams” since his childhood in a well-off Egyptian family from the city of Bahtim in Shubra Al-Khaimah, to obtaining a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Engineering in Shubra and then obtaining a master’s degree from Ain Shams University To reach the highest ranks in the world.
Suleiman said: “I went through many stages of failure and attempts. I was accepted in 2015 at Caltech University, which is considered the first university in the world in terms of science, and I completed my doctoral research with it. I published a lot of research in scientific journals, and the last research project I did was regarding a telescope to monitor The first moments in cosmology and the beginning of time in Antarctica.
Choosing an Antarctic Site
Solomon continued: “The South Pole is the most suitable place to monitor the first light that originated in the universe, regarding 14 billion years ago, with great accuracy compared to any other site on Earth. The Antarctic is the right place for its extreme cold, dryness and the layers of the atmosphere that allow this Light passes more quickly at certain frequencies of time.
NASA telescope in Antarctica (archive)
He explained: “This light contains information such as the inflationary gravity expected to have arisen with the age of the universe, following a very small fraction of a second following the Big Bang, and it contributes to answering many questions that explain the beginning of the universe.”
unexplained phenomena
Solomon added that the telescope that is used in this research “works to explain many phenomena that have not yet been explained in the Big Bang theory, which is the most credible theory among scientists regarding the origin of the universe over millions of years.”
He continued, “Through this telescope, we are trying to monitor the first moments of the universe following the Big Bang, nearly 14 billion years ago.”
He stressed, “Our experience is the most accurate in the world through scientific publications that we publish in international scientific journals.”
It is noteworthy that this telescope was built and designed by the US National Science Foundation and NASA, with the participation of many American universities.
At the end of his speech, Soliman expressed his feeling “to the extremes of pride for being the only Arab and Egyptian among this group of researchers and scientists in the Antarctic participating in this great scientific research.”
