biography
| name: |
Borlaug, Norman (Ernest)
|
pronunciation:
[baw(r)log]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1914– )
|
| biography:
| Microbiologist and agronomist, born in Cresco, Iowa, USA. In 1942 he directed pesticide research for E I DuPont Nemours and Co in Wilmington, DE. In 1944 he developed a disease-free strain of wheat for the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican Agricultural Ministry to remedy the severe Mexican wheat crop failures. In 1954 he crossed a Japanese dwarf wheat strain with the new Mexican strain for a higher-yield strain with a shorter stem; the seeds were distributed to Mexican farmers in 1961. In 1964–79 he directed the International Wheat Research and Production Programme at the Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo (CIMMYT, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre). During this period, he launched the ‘green revolution’ for which he won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for ‘help(ing) to provide bread for a hungry world’. His posts include consultant to CIMMYT (from 1981), a professor of international agriculture at Texas A&M University (1984), and president of the Sasakawa Africa Association and leader of the Global 2000 Agricultural Programs in Africa (1988). Among his books are The Green Revolution, Peace and Humanity (1971) and Food Production in a Fertile, Unstable World (1978). |
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