Norman Borlaug

Norman Borlaug is known as the father of the Green Revolution, and who doubled world food production between 1960 and 1990. He is said to have saved a billion people in the world from starvation.

At the end of WWII he developed disease-resistant varieties of wheat that produced much more grain than traditional wheat varieties. He modified those techniques to do the same thing with rice and corn in Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Africa. Grain yields actually quadrupled in Pakistan and India. For his successes he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Even in his waning years, he advocated the use of biotechnology to fight hunger. He also received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor given by Congress, in 2007.

Norman Borlaug died yesterday at the age of 95 at his home in Dallas.