We Need Another Hamed Gohar ASAP

I hope that many Egyptians remember how they all mocked the 1980s and 1990s great oceanographer and scientist Hamed Gohar because of his voice “do not deny it “when they follow the “Jaws” film taking place currently live in Sharm El-Sheikh. 

Despite having a successful weekly scientific TV show on national TV for 18 years, people only remember his voice and laugh when some comedian imitates him regardless of his importance worldwide in his field. 

I think many concerned Egyptians will ask what happened to Dr Gohar’s research and students, many concerned Egyptians do not like the fact that we exported from American experts to tell us what is wrong with our sharks !!
It is disgrace that we got a whole sector, a profitable sector that depends on marine life and yet we do not try to understand or really study it in order to use it in the best way despite the fact we had a man like Dr Gohar.

 
Now, who was Dr Hamed Gohar ??
Dr Hamed Gohar “1907-1992” was the founding father of oceanography and marine biology not only in Egypt but in the Arab world when nobody was interested in studying marine biology or even know it.

 As it was the plan of fate Young Hamed who had initially joined the prestigious faculty of medicine, decided to continue studying at the Faculty of Science, Cairo University in 1925. 

He began to study oceanography at the University of Cambridge in 1931 to become the first oceanographer in Egypt and the Arab world. His first research then was about the soft corals of the red sea. In 1935 he returned and became assistant manager for Hurghada marine biological station after its founding. 

He became later the manager of the station that turned into the Fouad Institute For Oceanographic studies in 1946.

Dr Gohar with his signature beard

For 40 years he headed that institute in Hurghada when most people in Egypt did not know that there is a place in Egypt called Hurghada.

 That institute was the first of its kind in the red sea. UN secretary general Hammarskjöld chose him as a scientific advisor for oceanography from the year 1956 to 1958. 

In 1961 he founded the marine biological institute in Suez.

 
For 18 years since the 1970s  his TV show “The seas World” was one of the finest scientific Egyptian and Arabic shows presented about marine life in general prior to the time of National geographic Arabic, prior Egyptians really discover the red sea and earn their living from it through working in the tourism sector.

 

Hamed Gohar speaks about sharks

Here is the location of the maritime museum he had established, the marine biological station he had headed and the villa where he lived there for 40 years.

 

View Maritime Museum and Marine biological station in Hurghada on a larger map

Throughout his life, he contributed a lot to the Arabic translation of oceanography and marine biology. His most famous contributions n the Arabic translation of science were in biology and agriculture dictionaries. 

He was of the early scientists worldwide that believe oceans and seas can provide an alternative to animal protein despite the fact that till his death he reportedly refused to eat fish for his passion for these amazing creatures. He left research about the red sea when there were no computers or scanners since 1931. He did not marry a human but rather married the red sea.

Dr Gohar with the staff of the marine biological station

Dr. Gohar was from the generation raised upon the role of science in the progress of the nation and despite being awarded internationally and regionally yet I believe his real award is to revive his science, we need a new friend for the marine world in Egypt ASAP.
Links :

• Dr Hamed Gohar fans Facebook group
• Gohar, King of red sea “Aquastock”
• Books by Dr Gohar in Google books
• Another book by Dr Gohar in Google books

Photo source: Dr Hamed Gohar Fans Facebook group