The family of late Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian chemist Ahmed Zewail has donated his book collection to Egypt's Bibliotheca Alexandrina, library manager Mostafa El-Fiky said on Tuesday.

The collection, which was kept in Zewail's house in the United States, comprises scientific, literary and history books, as well as books on his life in different languages and volumes about his scientific breakthroughs, El-Fiky said in a statement sent to Ahram Online.

The collection, which has been donated to the library by Zewail's wife Dema Faham, also includes a number of photos of the scientist at recognition ceremonies over the course of his career.

Zewail, who also held US citizenship, was a science and technology advisor to US President Barack Obama and the first US science envoy to the Middle East.

In 1999, he received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in femtochemistry, the study of chemical reactions in extremely short timescales.

Zewail died at the age of 70 in 2016.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina regularity receives donated collections from Egyptian and foreign individuals, organisations and governments, which it says helps enrich the knowledge of its Egyptian and foreign visitors.