Plant Scientist Highlight: Norman Borlaug

Over the course of a year, Alyssa highlight posted a short biography of a different member of the plant science community, sharing some of the highlights of different disciplines of our beloved plant research.

First up is Norman Borlaug, a name familiar to most people who have been around the plant sciences. Dr. Borlaug spent most of his research focusing on improving wheat yield and disease resistance with traditional breeding. Dr. Borlaug pushed the limits, implementing a breeding program that grew two generations of crops in a year and crossing thousands of wheat lines by hand. His tenacity and determination to push through difficulty and disbelief gave rise to the “Green Revolution”: a period of significant progress in agricultural advances which also paved the way for current science being done in food crops. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in 1970.

For more information on Dr. Borlaug and his work, check out “The Man Who Fed the World” by Leon Hesser.

Download the graphic here.