Ismail Serageldin
Ismail Serageldin (born 1944 in Giza, Egypt) is the director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He also chairs the Boards of Directors for each of the BA's affiliated research institutes and museums. He was Vice President of the World Bank, and was Professor at the Collège de France, Paris, and a Distinguished Professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He was a member of the Senate in Egypt (Majlis Al-Shura).He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Cairo University and Masters' degree and a Ph.D. from Harvard University and has received 33 honorary doctorates.He has published over 60 books and monographs and over 200 papers on a variety of topics including biotechnology, rural development, sustainability, and the value of science to society. He is sometimes referred to as the "most intelligent man in Egypt". Serageldin received the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences on May 1, 2011. He has also received the Order of the Rising Sun from Japan and the Legion d’Honneur from France and is a Commandeur of Arts and Letters of the French Republic.He speaks Arabic, French and English. He is married and has one son.
