Norman Borlaug
(1914-)

Father of the Green Revolution
1970 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
1977 Presidential Medal of Freedom
2006 Congressional Gold Medal

birthdate: March 25
birthplace:
Cresco, Iowa

Norman Ernest Borlaug is the father of the Green Revolution, having dedicated his life as a scientist to develop high-yielding disease-resistant grains to feed the hungry. Norman Borlaug's dedication was fueled by his humanitarian passion - he recognized that having enough food to eat is one of the most basic human needs and that hunger and poverty greatly contribute to environmental and social problems, often leading to conflict between people and between nations. Borlaug and the Green Revolution his work spurred are credited with saving the lives of over 1 billion starving people. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for helping to promote world peace by trying to feed the world.

In recent years, however, the biotechnology methods Dr. Borlaug advocates to reduce famines have been the center of environmental and socioeconomic controversy. This is in part due to the way corporations have seized control of the technology and have used it in ways to eliminate the competition of local farmers around the world, as well as environmental, health and ethical concerns about the introduction of genetically-modified plants into native habitats.

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