The man who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 and is considered "the father of the Green Revolution".
Dr. Norman Borlaug, third from the left, seen standing in Mexican wheat field with a group of biologists.
Dr. Norman Borlaug's life timeline:
1914 - Born in Cresco, Iowa
1933 - Leaves his family's farm to attend the University of Minnesota, thanks to a Depression era program known as the "National Youth Administration"
1935 - Has to stop school and save up more money. Works in the Civilian Conservation Corps, helping starving Americans. "I saw how food changed them", he said. "All of this left scars on me."
1937 - Finishes university and takes a job in the US Forestry Service
1938 - Marries wife of 69 years Margret Gibson. Gets laid off due to budget cuts. Inspired by Elvin Charles Stakman, he returns to school study under Stakman, who teaches him about breeding pest-resistent plants.
1941 - Tries to enroll in the military after the Pearl Harbor attack, but is rejected. Instead, the military asked his lab to work on waterproof glue, DDT to control malaria, disinfectants, and other applied science.
1942 - Receives a Ph.D. in Genetics and Plant Pathology
1944 - Rejects a 100% salary increase from Dupont, leaves behind his pregnant wife, and flies to Mexico to head a new plant pathology program. Over the next 16 years, his team breeds 6,000 different strains of disease resistent wheat - including different varieties for each major climate on Earth.
1945 - Discovers a way to grown wheat twice each season, doubling wheat yields
1953 - Crosses a short, sturdy dwarf breed of wheat with a high-yeidling American breed, creating a strain that responds well to fertilizer. It goes on to provide 95% of Mexico's wheat.
1962 - Visits Delhi and brings his high-yielding strains of wheat to the Indian subcontinent in time to help mitigate mass starvation due to a rapidly expanding population
1970 - Receives the Nobel Peace Prize
1983 - Helps seven African countries dramatically increase their maize and sorghum yields
1984 - Becomes a distinguished professor at Texas A&M University
2005 - States "we will have to double the world food supply by 2050." Argues that genetically modified crops are the only way we can meet the demand, as we run out of arable land. Says that GM crops are not inherently dangerous because "we've been genetically modifying plants and animals for a long time. Long before we called it science, people were selecting the best breeds."
2009 - Dies at the age of 95.
Observation - Despite his contributions, he receives some
environmental and socioeconomic critics, for example, as described in this The Guardian article:
"[...]"Few people at the time considered the profound social and ecological changes that the revolution heralded among peasant farmers. The long-term cost of depending on Borlaug's new varieties, said eminent critics such as ecologist Vandana Shiva in India, was reduced soil fertility, reduced genetic diversity, soil erosion and increased vulnerability to pests. [...]".
If you want to know more about his story, start with his Wikipedia page!
