The innovator Michael Dell started his company "Dell" with a question, while the innovator Ratan Tata, the owner of the famous company "Tata Group", always recommended asking "the unquestionable".. Scientists even said that the most important thing that distinguishes an innovator is his questions..! We can now add to these models, a young national figure, who started her life with a question, built her life with a question, and is still developing thanks to this question..

He is Abdullah bin Ghazi Al-Ruhaili. He started out as a curious student with many questions. He asked his science teacher a lot about astronomy. His teacher at school admitted that he did not have the answers to his questions, and assigned him to look for them. From that day on, he learned how to read outside the curriculum. He began to wonder and search, wonder and his teacher did not know the answer to his question, so he taught him to search and read.. and this was the best thing that ever happened to him! He urged, then added to this behavioral duality, another duality, so he began to wonder and search, then analyze and think, wonder and search then analyze and think.. until he became what he is now...

Researcher at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Leeds in Britain, owner of three inventions, and author of the book The Ten Commandments for Inventors, winner of the Academics and Researchers Award in the field of Information and Communication Technology from the Innovation Exhibition 2010, and winner of the Gold Medal from the International Evia in Germany, and the Silver Medal from the Aina Exhibition in Germany as well. Winner of the Silver Medal from the 39th Geneva International Exhibition, and the Silver Medal from the British Invention Exhibition.

Is success a game of luck?

"Be prepared when opportunity strikes. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."                                                                                          

                                                                                           (The great Rue de Charpin).

Abdullah attributed his success, after God, to his parents, who spent half of their income on his research, and to King Saud University, where he studied at the undergraduate level, which took him by the hand and supported him in his first innovations, and to “Mawhiba”, which provided him with the greatest support and made him participate in international innovation exhibitions, starting with the 2010 Innovation Exhibition, passing through the INA and Geneva exhibitions, and ending with the British Invention Exhibition. Because of it, he learned confidence, tasted the flavor of success, and experienced the pleasure of achievement, until he began to repeat on several occasions his saying: “What one person can do, another person can do.”

Abdullah says that all these stimulating stations in his life indicate that he is a lucky person, even very lucky. The truth is that he is no different in luck from many others, but the difference was that he was very prepared for every opportunity he got. His mind was full of questions, he was passionate about thinking, his ambition was ambitious, and his heart was attached to success and distinction. He insisted on success and persevered in working.

Head full of questions!

Abdullah was very impressed by the movement of the Earth's rotation around the sun, and he was fascinated by the succession of seasons under the control of God without human intervention. He used to think a lot about how humans arrived at the truth? How were they denied in the beginning? These reflections led him to a deep belief that there is certainly a lot that humans need to discover.. There are many great things that some will be accused of madness because of their discovery, and there are discoveries that will undoubtedly change the way of life and the features of modern civilization.

He also wondered: Will he be one of those who change civilization to a better one? Abdullah grew up and his questions and dreams grew with him throughout the seventeen years of his academic life - starting from his school at King Fahd Air Base in Al-Hawiyah, and ending with the University of Leeds in Britain.

He studied microbiology for three years, then dropped out and specialized in medicine and surgery! These questions prompted Abdullah to specialize in microbiology at Taibah University in Medina for three years. They also prompted him to drop out of his studies to start over and specialize in medicine and surgery at King Saud University in Riyadh. They also prompted him to join the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom to complete his medical research to treat AIDS.

These questions... are what prompted Abdullah to think about how to save passengers in emergency situations? How to avoid the possibility of an undetected danger on the runway? How to eliminate dangerous viruses? These questions also... are what gave birth to his three innovations!

Abdullah Al-Ruhaili's innovations:

1- Inventing a system to search for passengers in emergency situations: The idea of ​​this system revolves around installing a device that accompanies the oxygen mask in airplanes and is worn on the hand to determine the location of the passenger in the event of an accident, with the aim of raising the global level of safety on airplanes by developing systems and methods of search and rescue in emergency situations.

2- Electronic vision for aircraft runways: The idea of ​​this innovation revolves around connecting the lights of aircraft runways to the satellite to create an electronic vision for them, while connecting them to a sensor capable of detecting the danger that may be on the runway. This innovation is useful in improving landing and take-off methods at airports, and facilitating the technical tasks of the pilot and the airport, even in maintenance work. It may also be very useful in secret, unlit runways, as is the case in some military airports.

3- Therapeutic infection to treat viruses: It is a gene therapy using genetic engineering technology, by replacing the genetic material responsible for infection in viruses with genes that have the ability to stop the harmful genetic effect of this virus by preventing it from replicating.

This innovation is the creation of a new treatment to combat some viruses and nullify their action by creating other viruses that have this ability, and thus contribute to the recovery of the patient, God willing. Abdullah Al-Ruhaili currently specializes in research into the HIV virus.

Other achievements of Abdullah Al-Ruhaili:

1- Writing the book of the Ten Commandments for Inventors.

2- Giving a lecture: What is the purpose of your presence at the university?

3- Presenting a lecture on the steps to success.

Abdullah still wonders: Am I a failure?

“If I were Saudi, what would I do for this country?” Abdullah’s head, full of questions and dreams, was deeply moved by what the new Japanese president of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology said after he stepped onto the university stage for the first time: “If I were Saudi, what would I do for this country?”

Abdullah says: After this question, I knew that only the creative person would answer this question, and I realized that we must be creative to deserve this country... but the most important question is how?

After that, I heard the speech of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, may God protect him, in which he confirmed that he had stopped oil exploration in order to find resources for the knowledge economy. At that time, I knew what I would do since I am Saudi!!!

But Abdullah still wonders and says: If the saying that “A person should not measure himself by what he has accomplished so far, but by what he can accomplish” is true... Am I a failure? What else can I do? What can I discover next... How? When? And where do I start...

For Abdullah Al-Ruhaili, questions are the beginning, the path, and the story.