There was a chance I didn't take.

As a child, I spent a lot of

time reading. I borrowed books and I was given books as presents, but
what I liked best was buying new books. I enjoyed being the first
person to read a book, but I did not read a new book immediately. I
examined it carefully and looked at the pictures. My parents told me
to read more library books. I enjoyed the stories as much, but the
library books were not so special.

Once I as browsing the books in the library and a book attracted

my attention. I started to read it. It was about Dr Karimat El- Sayed. I
haven't heard of Dr Karimat El- Sayed before, but in 2003 she won
an award as one of the best women scientists in the world. At the
time, she was a science professor at Ain Shams University in Cairo
and won the award for her work on the structure of metal.

Dr El-Sayed is special in the world of science because she was the

first Egyptian woman to receive one of these awards. As an
enthusiastic scientist, she has spent much of her career encouraging
other women to become scientists. She said in an interview that,
despite being grandmother, she was still working because she loved
it.

As a girl at secondary school, Dr El-Sayed heard about the

discoveries of the energetic French woman scientist, Marie Curie,
and decided that she wanted to be a scientist herself. El-Sayed
worked very hard at school and was good at Science and Maths
However; it was not common for women to go to university at this
time, so it took her a long time to get her family to agree to the idea.
In her early twenties, after graduating, El-Sayed travelled to Britain
to continue her studies. There, she was inspired by one of her
teachers who was also a scientist. Later, El-Sayed married a man who
was also a research scientist. Now, as well as her other work, Dr El-
Sayed travels round Egypt meeting groups of girls and encouraging
them to think seriously about careers in science.

I admired her life a lot and decided to follow her steps and study
science. I studied hard and got the best marks at secondary school.
The University of Oxford offered me a scholarship to study science
there, but my family refused the idea and decided that I study
medicine. I always regret missing this chance.