Dr. Norman Borlaug

Here's a timeline of Dr. Borlaug's life:

• 1914 - Born in Cresco, Iowa
• 1933 - Leaves his family's farm to attend the Universitey 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. helpong starving Americans. "I saw how food changed them", he said. "All of this left scars on me."
• 1938 - Finishes university and takes a job in the US Forestry Service
• 1941 - 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.
• 1942 - Tries to enroll in the millitary after the Pearl Harbor attack, but is rejected. Instead, the millitary asked his lab to work on waterproof glue, DDT to control malaria, disinfectants, and other applied science.
• 1944 - Receives a Ph.D. in Genetics and Plan Pathology
• 1945 - Pejects 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.
• 1953 - Discovers a way to grow wheat twice each season, doubling wheat yields
• 1962 - Visits Delhi and brings his high-yielding strains of wheat to the Indian subcontinent in time of 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 geneticaly modifying plants and animals for a long time. Long before we called it science, people were seleting the ebst breeds."
• 2009 - dies at the age of 95.

"Borlaug's life and achievement are testimony to the far-reaching constribution that one mans's towering intellect, persistence and scientific vision can make to human peace and progress."

-- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

If you have time, you should read more about this incredible human being on his Wikipedia entry.