Abe Sargent
09-19-2009, 10:40 AM
He died a week ago, and no one on this forum even noticed enough, or cared enough, to post a thread. Yet, this guy is easily, the single-handedly most important scientist of the 20th century, and one of the most important of all time. His research, invention and application of modern agronomic techniques led to the new production of food that, some research implies, feeds about an extra one billion people, and they would have gone hungry without him.
He wasn't in a sexy field, like nuclear physics or astrophysics, and he never published a bunch of books for the modern person like Carl Sagan or Stephen Hawking. He wasn't someone whose creation bettered our lives by adding a new appliance to our home. Instead, he studied the basics. In the early half of the 20th century, economists and agronomists agreed that the world was swiftly running out of food, and wars for food would dominate the second half of the century. That didn't happen because Norman Borlaug came along, and made changes that greatly increase food output and inspired others to do the same, leading to the Green Revolution.
In the great nation game, I wanted to take Norman Borlaug as my 20th century scientist, but I knew that, despite his major, major credit, his name is largely unknown and his work not as sexy. I took the safe pick with Sigmund Freud and won the game, but Norman was the right choice.
Norman won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, and won a ton of other awards, but he still remained under the radar. He passed a week ago, and his death occurred in relative obscurity, just like his life.
Here's to Norman Borlaug
He wasn't in a sexy field, like nuclear physics or astrophysics, and he never published a bunch of books for the modern person like Carl Sagan or Stephen Hawking. He wasn't someone whose creation bettered our lives by adding a new appliance to our home. Instead, he studied the basics. In the early half of the 20th century, economists and agronomists agreed that the world was swiftly running out of food, and wars for food would dominate the second half of the century. That didn't happen because Norman Borlaug came along, and made changes that greatly increase food output and inspired others to do the same, leading to the Green Revolution.
In the great nation game, I wanted to take Norman Borlaug as my 20th century scientist, but I knew that, despite his major, major credit, his name is largely unknown and his work not as sexy. I took the safe pick with Sigmund Freud and won the game, but Norman was the right choice.
Norman won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, and won a ton of other awards, but he still remained under the radar. He passed a week ago, and his death occurred in relative obscurity, just like his life.
Here's to Norman Borlaug