Memory of the World Award
Name of Candidate: Fathi Hassan Saleh
Street Address: Cairo-Alexandria road, Km 28 Giza, Egypt
E-mail: fsaleh@mcit.gov.eg
Website: www.cultnat.org
If the Candidate is an individual:
Nationality: Egyptian
Education: ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
1970
1968
Doctor of Engineering – University of Paris
Diplôme d’Études Approfondies – University of Paris
1967
1960
Certificat d’Études Supérieures – University of Paris
B.Sc. Faculty of Engineering – Cairo University
Professional Experience:
Prof. Fathi Saleh
Dr. Fathi Saleh is currently professor of computer engineering at Cairo University.
He is also the director of the “Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural
Heritage”, which is part of Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He is also member of the
Supreme Council of Culture; and Président d'Honneur de L'Association pour la
Conservation, la Promotion de la Propriete et des Archives des Freres Champollion
(L'ACPPA) de Vif.
During the years 1995-97 he occupied the position of Cultural
Councilor at the embassy of Egypt in Paris and from 1997-1999, he was the ambassador of Egypt to the UNESCO. Dr. Saleh graduated from the Faculty of
Engineering - Cairo University and got his PhD from the University of Paris –
France. His main interest is the application of new technologies in the documentation of different fields of Cultural and Natural Heritage.
2000 - Present Founder & Director, Center for Documentation of Cultural &
Natural Heritage (CULTNAT)
1997 - Present
1997 – 1999
Président d'Honneur de L'ACPPA Champollion de Vif
Ambassador, permanent delegate to the UNESCO
1995 – 1997
1993 – 1995
Cultural Councilor at the Egyptian Embassy in Paris
Head of Computer Engineering Department – Faculty of
Engineering – Cairo University.
1980 – 1993 Professor of Computer Engineering - Faculty of Engineering
– Cairo University.

1975 – 1980 Associate Professor Computer Engineering - Faculty of
Engineering – Cairo University.
1970 – 1975 Assistant Professor Computer Engineering - Faculty of
Engineering – Cairo University.
1960 – 1970 Engineer at the Egyptian Organization of Radio and
Television.
ACTIVITIES WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Member of UNESCO international advisory Committee for Memory of the
World Program
Listed consultant to the world bank on developmental projects under number LF 912
Consultation with U.N.D.P. Organization
Publications and materials produced by the candidate relating to the accessibility and preservation of documentary heritage:
 Creating Cultureware Center within UNDP funded Regional Information
Technology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC) in Cairo. This
Center was in charge of the computerization of the different aspects of culture heritage in Egypt, mainly
- Holdings of museums,
- Archeological sites and
- Arabic manuscripts.
 The Center had produced several CD-ROM’s for the Egyptian Museum and the manuscripts of the National Library (Dar el Kutub).
 Managed the production of the first CD-ROM for the UNESCO Memory of the World Program which was about the rare manuscripts of the great mosque of Sanaa in Yemen.
 Production of a CD-ROM titled “ La Description de l’Egypte au debut de
XX siecle” with the Louvre museum and UNESCO Memory of the World
Program
 Production of a CD-ROM titled "Treasures of Islamic Civilization" containing 75 of the most important Islamic manuscripts held by the manuscripts division of Princeton University Libraries' Department of Rare
Books and Special Collections in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
 Included the Memory of the Suez Canal in the Memory of the World
Register and consequently a marble plate was put in place at La Companie

du Suez. (Attached is the picture of Dr. Fathi Saleh with Mr. Fedrico Mayor in front of the marble plate).
 Presented research papers on rediscovering the Pharaonic musical scale (TV program was prepared by SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
FRONTIERES SERIES).
Please find attached a resume.
Describe the way in which the work nominated has made a significant contribution to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage:
Throughout his entire career Dr. Fathi Saleh has been contributing to the preservation of documentary heritage through the use of information technology and the latest multimedia tools in digitization. His most prominent achievements were in the areas of Arabic manuscripts and old photographs as highlighted in his above publications. In the year 2000, he realized his vision by creating the Center for documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage CULTNAT which aims at the:
 Documentation of the heritage as an essential step in the national strategy for cultural heritage
 Use of the latest technology in the documentation of this unique heritage
 Documentation of the different aspects of the cultural heritage: tangible and intangible
 Documentation of the different aspects of the natural heritage
 Dissemination of information about this heritage through the production of cultural products
Applicable to this award are the documentary heritage projects, which he initiated, namely:
1. The Documentation of the Islamic Scientific Heritage for the
Manuscripts Project
The aim of CULTNAT in this project is to show the great contributions of the
Arabic & Islamic civilization, specially, to different sciences.
To have this end, CULTNAT has started cooperating with UNESCO in its first project in this program in Year 2001 for documenting Manuscripts in the medical sciences field. And we have successfully managed to choose the marvelous and various collections found in the Egyptian National Library (Dar
El Kotob) that reached 1087 manuscripts
Further, there are two main products from that project: The first is a book produced in 3 languages, which are Arabic, English, and French. This book contains detailed information about the most important 31 manuscripts in the collection, in addition to a detailed bibliography of that collection, while the second was a CD that has 7 complete digitized manuscripts as well as the detailed bibliography.

For the time being, we are in the final stage of our second project that will be about Astronomy. Moreover, we have also chosen a great collection from El
Azhar Library to work on. And we have managed to issue a book about the various machines and astronomical tools invented or developed by Arabs. That is in addition to a portfolio about astronomical constellations taken from astronomical images of Abd Al Rahman El Sofy Manuscript who was 4th Hegira
Century scientists.
2. Egypt 1920: The Photographs of Lehnert & Landrock:
CultNat's commitment to the documentation of the cultural and natural heritage in Egypt led to the creation of a photographic Heritage Program that is pioneering in the field of digitization of the nation's photographic memory based on archival collections of postcards and photographs. The series of CD-ROMs produced from available material debuted with the postcard collection of the Daressy family at the Louvre museum now compiled under the title of La Description de L'Egypte au
XXeme siecle. This is followed by Egypt 1920 circa CD-ROMs (Part I and Part II).
These volumes focus on the exhaustive collection of black and white photographs of Lehnert & Landrock collection, the unique continuing photographic activity since the beginning of the century in Egypt.
CULTNAT dissemination media:
1.
CULTNATs publications (Books, CDs, Atlases, postcards, etc.)
2.
Websites: www.cultnat.org
www.eternalegypt.org
3.
Culturama: Cultural panorama, is an innovative harmonized mix between a wealth of cultural and natural heritage information; a very informative and attractive multimedia program and latest display technology.
The hardware part contains a huge 180 degrees panoramic interactive computer screen with a diameter of 10 meters that consists of nine flat screens arranged in a semicircular shape and nine video projectors controlled by a single computer. An interactive multimedia software was especially developed by CULTNAT team in order to display on the panoramic screen. There are currently four Culturamas, one in the Center, one in Bibliotheca Alexandrina, one in the ministry of communication and
Information Technology, and the forth is a portable piece that tours various international exhibitions for global reach. It has been exhibited at the Frankfurt Book Fair last October; it was exhibiting in the L'institut de monde Arab in Paris last month, and is scheduled to exhibit in the
Kennedy Center in Washington DC in June.
4.
An array of geographical information systems and databases for the different projects that will be available online soon.
Describe the impact of this contribution to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage, whether at the local, regional, or international level:
Throughout his years working as an ambassador, and a permanent delegate in the UNESCO, Dr. Saleh has fully digested the vision of the memory of the world program. Upon his return to Egypt he has worked on transmitting this vision nationally and regionally. His legacy lies in his ability to successfully marry IT with cultural heritage professionals to establish mechanisms and know how in the field of documentary heritage digitization for the first time in the region. He has since then acted as a liaison between the memory of the world program at UNESCO

and the whole region. He currently envisions a memory of the Arab world project, whereby all regional efforts are combined to preserve the collective memory of the region. Accordingly, he will organize a regional meeting, through CULTNAT, for all regional working professionals in the fields of IT and heritage preservation as a nucleus for his pet project.
Has the candidate received previously any award for the same contribution? If yes, briefly indicate which prize:
No
Explain briefly how the prize money will be used:
The prize money would be for further development in the field of cultural heritage documentation through digitization and the use of the latest information technology and multimedia tools for dissemination to the widest audience locally, regionally, and internationally.
Please find attached the illustration material for all the CDs that the candidate has issued.
Dr. Fathi Saleh with Mr. Fedrico Mayor on the occasion of including "The Memory of the Suez Canal" on the Memory of the World Register. This marble plate was put at the "Companie du Suez" with the following inscription: