“The Mysterious Death of Sameera Moussa: Was it an Assassination?”

A number of local newspapers in the United States and Egypt reported Sameera’s death. Many people suspect that the car accident was an assassination attempt on Sameera by agents of the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad. The reason is, Israel is so persistent in preventing Egypt from acquiring knowledge about nuclear technology.

From a number of media sources in the US and Egypt, Sameera is in Wyoming on vacation while at the same time going to visit a nuclear facility managed by the military of Uncle Sam’s country. Unfortunately, Sameera’s death occurred when she was about to return to her hometown in Egypt.

Sameera has lived in the United States since receiving a Fulbright fellow in atomic radiation at the University of California, Berkeley. From the website of the Egyptian Ministry of Information (sis.gov.eg) and Egypt To Day mentioned, Sameera was the first female nuclear expert to work at Cairo University. She was nicknamed the ‘Miss Curie of East’ or ‘Miss Curie of the East’ after the Polish physicist, Marie Curie. It is also called the ‘Mother of Atomic Energy’.

Sameera Moussa or Samira Musa was born in Zefta Village, Al-Gharbia Province, Egypt on March 3, 1917. She started her primary education in Senbo to memorize passages from the Holy Quran. However, since her mother died from cancer, Sameera and her father, Haji Moussa Ali, moved to Cairo.

His father then built a small hotel business in the Al-Hussein area. At the encouragement of her father, Sameera entered the oldest elementary school in Cairo, namely Qasr Al-Shouq. After graduation, Sameera attended high school in Banat Al-Ashraf which was built by Nabawya Moussa, a well-known political activist at the time.

Sameera was so intelligent that in 1933, she wrote a book on Algebra when she was only 16 years old. Because of her intelligence, Sameera chose to enter the Faculty of Science at King Fuad I University, Cairo in 1939. She successfully completed her studies with a bachelor of science (BSc) degree in 1942 with first rank after conducting research on the effects of X-ray radiation on various materials.

The Dean of her Faculty named Dr Ali Mustafa Musharafa supported Sameera to become the first teaching assistant in her faculty. Until finally Sameera was trusted to become a lecturer and earned a PhD in atomic radiation. Apart from being intelligent, Sameera is also talented in the arts and social activities, especially helping poor families and neglected children.

Sameera believes that atoms are for peace. “I will make nuclear medicine available and as cheap as aspirin,” he said determinedly.

Sameera worked hard to make this happen by conducting a series of intensive research. He managed to help crack the atoms of cheap metals such as copper. He hopes that cheap nuclear technology can be used by everyone for the medical world.