List of Cairo University Alumni - 1940s

1940s

• Hikmat Abu Zayd is the former Minister of Social Affairs (1962–1965) under Gamal Abdel Nasser and the first female cabinet member in Egypt. She received a licence in history from Cairo University (then named Fuad I University) in 1940 and went on to receive a teaching certificate in 1941, a Master of Arts in education in 1950, and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of London in 1957.

• Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian diplomat and was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996. He graduated from Cairo University in 1946 and earned a PhD in international law from the University of Paris as well as a diploma in international relations from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.

• Nazeer Gayed was Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria. Born in 1923, he earned a BA in English and history from Cairo University in 1947. Later he attended the Coptic Theological Seminary. After becoming a hermit for several years, he became Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological University. He was consecrated the 117th Pope of Alexandria in 1971.

• Mohamed Hassanein Heikal is a prominent Egyptian journalist. He served as the editor-in-chief of the Cairo newspaper Al-Ahram (1957–1974). Mr. Heikal has been a respected commentator on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs for more than 50 years.

• Saad Aziz Ibrahim was a Coptic Church Bishop who was killed along with Anwar Sadat in 1981. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Cairo University in 1940. He was "a major figure in the Coptic revival." (The Times, October 12, 1981) He was the former chairman of the Middle East Council of Churches. He was elevated to Bishop by Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria in 1962. In 1971 he won the most votes in the papal election to succeed Cyril VI, but lost when the final decision was made by drawing lots (ibid.).

• Michel Wahba (1912–2000) was a clinical psychologist and academic. He grew up in Cairo and attended the College of Engineering at Cairo University. He graduated at the top of his class and was offered a full scholarship to study in the United Kingdom, but he turned it down to care for his brothers and sister. After graduation, he worked for American University in Cairo. Later he won a scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he earned his master's in 1951. In 1959 he won the Fulbright Scholarship and went with his wife and children to the University of North Carolina, where he earned his PhD. He worked for UC Davis as a clinical psychologist at Sacramento County Mental Hospital.

• Halim El-Dabh (b. 1921), Egypt's foremost living composer of classical music, and the composer (in 1960) of the original score to the Son et lumière show at the site of the Great Pyramids of Giza. He earned a bachelor of science degree in agricultural engineering in 1945 and emigrated to the United States in 1950.

• Hassan Fathy the Eco-engineer.
• Osman Ahmed Osman the engineer & politician.
• Magdi Wahba (1925–1991), Egypt's foremost lexicographer and Professor of English Literature from 1957 to 1980 when he retired as emeritus professor. He obtained his LLB from the Faculty of Law in 1946.