Sada El-Balad English (See) held an interview with the Egyptian scientist Dr. Farouk El-Baz; it was attended by Journalist Safaa Nawar, the site's Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor Ahmad El-Assasy.
During the meeting, See congratulated El-Baz on naming an asteroid after his name.
He revealed that the naming was carried out by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), not NASA as it is not one of its competencies to name planets and moons and it is the responsibility of IAU.
El-Baz told See about his personal life; he married an American wife and had three daughters. His family never felt that his wife was a foreigner.
He explained that he never chose his daughters to study or work in any field. He said, “No one forced me to study such or such. They are free to choose their lives.
El-Baz talking about his older daughter, "She works as executive director of the Sony Music Entertainment company
His older daughter works as the Sony Music Entertainment company's executive director; two of his daughters work in art and one in education.
El-Baz| When I want to write an article perfectly I listen to the songs of Umm Kulthum, Abdul Wahab or Abdel Halim Hafez. “I hear music very much and I love classical music. I enjoy Beethoven and Chopin,” El-Baz added. “Of course, I enjoy Umm Kulthum and I remember the days of studying Apollo pictures for analysis. I put the radio beside me and listen to Umm Kulthum, and even today when I want to write an article perfectly I listen to the songs of Umm Kulthum, Abdul Wahab or Abdel Halim Hafez."
El-Baz revealed the history of the naming of Cairo[/caption]
El-Baz revealed the history of the naming of Cairo and said it was originally named after Mars by a group of scientists and astronomers.
Cairo itself was named after the planet Mars[/caption]
He said, “Cairo itself was named after the planet Mars. In the history of Egypt, we know the capital of Egypt before Cairo was Al Fustat. There was a group of Arabs that came from the West to invade Egypt to make it the Fatimids Caliphate. The Fatimids Army head was named Gouhar Al-Saqli from Sicily. Gouhar decided to build an area to be higher than Fustat and brought a group of scientists and knowledgeable people to name the city.”
According to El-Baz, the scientists got together to name the city, one of them was an astronomer and before they start talking he looked to the sky and the planet Mars was rising up in the sky.
The astronomer said, “I told IAU who named the asteroid for me that a major city in Africa was named after Mars and they selected a very nice valley on Mars to be named after Cairo and called it Al Qahera valleys which means in the Latin language the omnipotent valley.
Dr. Baz said, “Any map to be drawn for Mars must contain Cairo”.
Dr. Baz said, “Any map to be drawn for Mars must contain Cairo”. He said in his meeting that the African continent has enough wealth. Its countries must cooperate to exploit this wealth, produce many more, and teach their youth to be equal in the eyes of the world.
He said about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: “It is a matter of ignorance on our part because Ethiopia is the place where the rain falls and comes through Sudan to us. It is the source of the Nile River. Our grandfathers and grandmothers learned about this and made good relationships with Ethiopia and Sudan. We have forgotten that, especially in the last fifty years. We forgot that we are a partner of African countries.”
"Ethiopia wanted to build a dam, we should go to Ethiopia and tell them we will build the dam for you, as we built the biggest dam in the world. Egypt can build it in such a way that it does not affect the two sides. We are brothers and sisters living here in this part of Africa. Our grandfathers worked hard to make sure that the relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia is well because they knew that water came from Ethiopia," he added.
He pointed out that Queen Hatshepsut established all kinds of relationships with Ethiopia. She had a huge area within her temple, telling us "I collected all these kinds of people to take gifts and go to Ethiopia, the source of water to make a great relationship with it." El-Baz described this mission as a "diplomatic mission to our brotherly country and they came back to Egypt with gifts from the Ethiopian side and animals that Egyptians have never seen before."