photo of a man - USAID photogrpah

Norman Borlaug (1914–2009), American agricultural scientist, plant pathologist, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1970. Known as the “Father of the Green Revolution,” Borlaug helped lay the groundwork for agricultural technological advances that alleviated world hunger. Borlaug studied plant biology and forestry at the University of Minnesota and earned a Ph.D. in plant pathology there in 1942. He began working with the DuPont Company in 1942 but was soon recruited as a research scientist in charge of wheat improvement for the Rockefeller Foundation’s Cooperative Mexican Agricultural Program in Mexico, where he worked from 1944 to 1960. Seeking to assist impoverished farmers who struggled with diseased and low-producing crops, Borlaug experimented with novel varieties of wheat, creating disease-resistant strains that could withstand the harsh climate. That work was founded on earlier discoveries of ways to induce genetic mutations in plants, and his methods led to modern plant breeding.