Zohra ben Lakhdar

Zohra ben Lakhdar Akrout (Arabic: زهرة بن لخضر عكروت; born 12 March 1943) is a Tunisian spectroscopist specializing in developing new spectroscopic methods to study the influence of pollutants on the quality of air, water, and plants. She earned in 2005 the L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science.

Quotes

• Be aware of the importance of culture; be open-minded as a scientist and as a person. Seek independence. Understand how important it is to be a responsible citizen. Be of good heart and be confident.
  • [1]
• Spectroscopy is about analyzing bodies according to the spectrum of light emitted or absorbed by matter. What does that mean? Think of the planets, stars, galaxies, which are beyond our reach. – How is it that man is able to get information about them and photograph them
  • [2]
• I am grateful for what science has already brought to people's lives. My mother had open-heart surgery, and her life was saved. There are no borders in science, people are equal: scientists are not separated by color, gender, religion, or money
  • [3]
• In future, nothing should be impossible. I long to build a center for optics and photonics for African research scientists in Tunisia, just like the Trieste center. But I also have wilder dreams – of using science to control the climate, to create rain, make deserts fertile, and to get drinking water cheaply from sea water.
  • [4]
• Light is a set of waves through space. So the “messages” are presented as waves. Each atom has its own way to send its message. This is its “spectra”, its own set of waves. So spectroscopy is the common language of atoms. When you know how to read these waves, you understand the language of atoms and molecules.
  • [5]