He pitched his tents in nowhere to be transported to nowhere else in search of Egyptian deserts' geological wealth, which many people know very little about.

Desert became his passion in life. He ventured into desolate places unhindered by difficulties and undeterred by anything as long as he found a thread guiding him to what the dunes hid and what the evidence of minerals in the mountaintops or rocks indicated at the bottoms of valleys.

He was frank and sarcastic, free from the city's illusions and hypocrisy.

Dr. Issawi was the first to discover the Toshka Depression as a spillway and oppose its use in agriculture. He also discovered Abu Tartur phosphate but warned against wasting money on extracting it.

He did not exaggerate Egypt's mineral wealth, such as gold and petroleum, or its groundwater reserves to avoid selling illusions as others did.

He discovered iron ore in the Bahariya Oasis and kaolin in Kalabsha. He also worked on solutions to increase Egypt's water supply under the Renaissance Dam project and increase the agricultural area.

Moreover, he warned against climate change's impact on rising sea levels that threatened the Delta.

Issawi also contributed to exploring the environment of Stone Age peoples, revealing the ancient climatic fluctuations they witnessed.

Additionally, he was part of the group that worked to save the Nubian monuments, Nefertari's tomb, the Sphinx, and the Osiron in Abydos.

He was an independent thinker and strong-willed man. You would never tire of listening to his humour-filled stories and strong opinions interspersed with his sarcastic laughter.

Dr. Issawi obtained his doctorate in 1968, enjoying a solid academic education and practical experience from his travels throughout the deserts of Egypt. 

He supervised more than 60 university theses and published more than 150 research papers on the geology of Egypt and Sudan in the south, up to Darfur and the deserts of Libya in the west.

As a result, he deserved to receive the State Encouragement Award in Geological Sciences in 1973 and the First Class Medal of Science and Arts in 1976.

Issawi was a loyal protagonist of the prestigious Egyptian Geological Survey, which he headed in 1982.

Furthermore, he was a member of many committees, including the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the Academy of Scientific Research, the General Authority for Industrialization, the Petroleum Authority, the Remote Sensing Authority, the Nuclear Agency, the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and the presidential Advisory Council of Egypt's Scientists and Experts.

From 1980 to 1988, Dr. Issawi was a professor of geology at the universities of Ain Shams, Aswan, Menoufia, and Benha.

In addition, he worked at the Norwegian Museum in Oslo from 1969 to 1971, at the University of Dallas, Texas, USA, from 1971 to 1972, and as a NASA consultant from 1983 to 1990.

In 2012, he published the book Fifty Years of Diving in Egypt (Dar Al-Thaqafa Al-Misryia), in which he recorded his insightful views of the geology of Egypt and its deserts, which he roamed since 1955.

The book shows how Issawi was concerned with Egyptian affairs.

It also speaks boldly about the corruption that preceded the 25 January Revolution, stressing the need to limit excessive population growth, restore the education system, develop curricula that rely on critical thinking, elevate the values of reason, and spread culture to all.