{"id":429,"date":"2009-09-15T12:23:50","date_gmt":"2009-09-15T17:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=429"},"modified":"2009-09-25T09:39:47","modified_gmt":"2009-09-25T14:39:47","slug":"september-16-23-2009-grandfather-of-the-green-revolution-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/september-16-23-2009-grandfather-of-the-green-revolution-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"September 16-23, 2009 – Grandfather of the Green Revolution dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contributed by\u00a0Erik Ullestad
\n<\/em><\/strong>West Des Moines, IA<\/p>\n

Warm-up Question:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>How would you define greatness?<\/p>\n

\n
\"Dr.

Dr. Norman Borlaug<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Norman Borlaug<\/a>, a man who is credited with saving the lives of over 1 billion people and being the “grandfather of the Green Revolution<\/a>,” died last week at the age of 95. Most of Borlaug\u2019s life was spent finding new ways to increase grain yields in developing countries. His discovery of new type of hybrid wheat strains helped nations avoid widespread famine in the 1950s and 1960s. He was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> in 1970 for increasing food security in Mexico, Pakistan, and India. Some call Borlaug \u201cthe most important man you\u2019ve never heard of.\u201d\u00a0<\/div>\n

Borlaug grew up on a farm in northeast Iowa, the great-grandson of Norwegian immigrants. His grandfather was instrumental in founding a Lutheran church in their community. As he grew, Borlaug developed a love of agriculture and science. He took what he learned in the field and applied it in the labs at the University of Minnesota. From there, he studied how various seeds and fertilizers responded to different climates and geographies.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, Borlaug has also been awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom<\/a> and the Congressional Gold Medal<\/a>. The only other people to receive all three honors are Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Elie Weisel, Nelson Mandella, and Martin Luther King Jr. In 1986 Borlaug established the World Food Prize<\/a> which acknowledges people who work to increase the quality and quantity of food in the world.<\/p>\n

People close to Dr. Borlaug described him as humble, gracious, and unassuming. In one of his last interviews, Borlaug summed up his efforts by saying, \u201cYou can’t build peace and tranquility on empty stomachs and human misery.\u201d<\/p>\n