“Which of the following people would you say is the most admirable: Mother Teresa, Bill Gates or Norman Borlaug? And which do you think is the least admirable?
For most people, it’s an easy question. Mother Teresa, famous for ministering to the poor in Calcutta, has been beatified by the Vatican, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and ranked in an American poll as the most admired person of the 20th century.
Bill Gates, infamous for giving us the Microsoft dancing paper clip and the blue screen of death, has been decapitated in effigy in “I Hate Gates” Web sites and hit with a pie in the face.
As for Norman Borlaug . . who the heck is Norman Borlaug?”
Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914- ) was born on a farm near Cresco, Iowa, to Henry and Clara Borlaug.
Borlaug enrolled in the University of Minnesota where he studied forestry. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1937. He returned to receive his master's degree in 1939 and his doctorate in 1942.
For twenty-seven years he collaborated with Mexican scientists on problems of wheat improvement; for the last ten or so of those years he also collaborated with scientists from other parts of the world, especially from India, Pakistan and nations in Africa, in adapting the new drought resistant wheat and other grains to arid lands and in gaining acceptance for their production.
Mexico presented a unique opportunity. Initially, his work had been concentrated in the central highlands where the problems with rust and poor soil were most prevalent. But he realized that he could speed up breeding by taking advantage of the country's two growing seasons. In the summer he would breed wheat in the central highlands as usual, then immediately take the seeds north to the Mexican state of Sonora. The difference in altitudes and temperatures would allow more crops to be grown each year.
One of the most significant developments that Dr. Borlaug brought about was the dwarfing of the wheat plants. Dwarf plants produce thick stems and do not lodge. The plants Borlaug worked with had tall, thin stalks. Taller wheat grasses better compete for sunlight, but tend to collapse under the weight of the extra grain—a trait called lodging—and from the rapid growth spurts induced by nitrogen fertilizer Borlaug used in the poor soil. To prevent this, he bred wheat to favor shorter, stronger stalks that could better support larger seed heads.
By 1963, 95% of Mexico's wheat crops used the semi-dwarf varieties developed by Borlaug. That year, the harvest was six times larger than in 1944, the year Borlaug arrived in Mexico. Mexico had become fully self-sufficient in wheat production, and a net exporter of wheat.
In Pakistan, wheat yields nearly doubled, from 4.6 million tons in 1965 to 7.3 million tons in 1970; Pakistan was self-sufficient in wheat production by 1968. Yields were over 21 million tons by 2000.
In India, yields increased from 12.3 million tons in 1965 to 20.1 million tons in 1970. By 1974, India was self-sufficient in the production of all cereals. By 2000, India was harvesting a record 76.4 million tons (2.81 billion bushels) of wheat. Since the 1960s, food production in both nations has increased faster than the rate of population growth.
He was involved scientific research in genetics, plant breeding, plant pathology, entomology, agronomy, soil science, and cereal technology. Within twenty years he was spectacularly successful in finding a high-yielding short-straw, disease-resistant wheat.
Wheat production in Mexico multiplied threefold in the time that he worked with the Mexican government; “dwarf” wheat imported in the mid-1960s was responsible for a 60 percent increase in harvests in Asia, Africa and the sub-continent Pakistan and India. He was credited with saving over 1 billion people from starvation. For that he was awarded the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.
On September 27, 2006, the United States Senate by unanimous consent passed the Congressional Tribute to Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Act of 2006. The act authorizes that Borlaug be awarded America's highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal. On December 6, 2006, the House of Representatives passed the measure by voice vote. President George Bush signed the bill into law on December 14, 2006, and it became Public Law Number 109–395.
According to the act, "Dr. Borlaug has saved more lives than any other person who has ever lived, and likely has saved more lives in the Islamic world than any other human being in history." The act authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to strike and sell duplicates of the medal in bronze. He was presented with the medal on July 17, 2007.
Such a high honor ……..but wait!!!! There is more!!!
THE BOOMER BLOGGER
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