Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug dies

[JoeBentley]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americ...eat/index.html

CNN-- Nobel laureate Norman E. Borlaug, an agricultural scientist who helped develop disease-resistant wheat used to fight famine in poor countries, died Saturday. He was 95.

I'll let Penn Jillette state my opinions on this great man...

"At a time when doom-sayers were hopping around saying everyone was going to starve, Norman was working. He moved to Mexico and lived among the people there until he figured out how to improve the output of the farmers. So that saved a million lives. Then he packed up his family and moved to India, where in spite of a war with Pakistan, he managed to introduce new wheat strains that quadrupled their food output. So that saved another million. You get it? But he wasn't done. He did the same thing with a new rice in China. He's doing the same thing in Africa - as much of Africa as he's allowed to visit. When he won the Nobel Prize in 1970, they said he had saved a billion people. That's BILLION! BUH! That's Carl Sagan BILLION with a "B"! And most of them were a different race from him. Norman is the greatest human being- and you've probably never heard of him."

[chillas]

Mr. Borlaug's passing is unspeakably sad. Sadder still is how few people have heard of him or know of his accomplishments.

[Insensible Crier]

We had this silly little questionaire that you filled in when you first got hired at my company and one of the questions was, "Name someone you admire." I wrote in Norman Borlaug. Then they had a luncheon where they tacked these up and people could read them and us them as conversation starters and such. And Penn was right, I don't think there was was a single person there who knew who Norman Borlaug was as people asked constantly, "Who's Norman Borlaug?"

The world will miss him, even if most of them won't realize it.

[Bad Ronald]

I have to admit, I first became aware of Norman Borlaug via an episode of The West Wing. After that I read up on him and was amazed at his accomplishments. Godspeed, Mr. Borlaug.

[PallasAthena]

Godspeed indeed, Dr. Borlaug.

He was a great man and a decent human being. We are all better for having known him.

I'm almost in tears over here. He was a family friend. Not a close one, but a friend just the same. He and his wife lent me their microwave when I went to college. He wasn't just kind in big ways, he was kind in little every-day ways too.

He's why I am in the industry that I am in.

I am so sorry for the world having lost him, but I am glad he is at peace. Cancer is a horrible disease.

[I'mNotDedalus]

Originally Posted by PallasAthena

He was a family friend. Not a close one, but a friend just the same. He and his wife lent me their microwave when I went to college. He wasn't just kind in big ways, he was kind in little every-day ways too.

Wow, seriously? Amazing. Did you talk to him much?

[PallasAthena]

Originally Posted by I'mNotDedalus

Wow, seriously? Amazing. Did you talk to him much?

Apparently when I was a kid. Some. I think they mostly lived in Mexico. I know when they would come up to the states, Mom would lend them some of our chairs. You know, as a kid, you don't think of that very much, but when you're older, you realize it. When I got to college, we talked about him in my class, and my jaw hit the floor. I remember thinking, "Norm Bolaug? Really?" As an adult, I wish I could have talked to him more. I wish I remembered more about him. I recognize his face, and I remeber a very few instances, but beyond that...

ETA: Until this afternoon, I didn't even realize it was Dr. Bolaug who lent me the microwave. Mom told me. At the time he was an old guy my parents knew. (My dad is a prof in A&M's Ag Engineering Dept and we have a LOT of family friends in Soil and Crop)

[snopes]

The eulogies for Dr. Borlaug often neglected an important and perplexing fact. Despite his accomplishments, more people are hungry today than ever and that total should exceed one billion people this year for the first time, according to the United Nations.

How can so many people be hungry when farmers produce enough food, at least in theory, to feed every person on the planet?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/we.../20martin.html

[JoeBentley]

How can so many people be hungry when farmers produce enough food, at least in theory, to feed every person on the planet?

Because its a big planet and we can't just snap our fingers and make things that are grown in the American breadbasket or the Fertile Crescent magically appear in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Because our major population centers are often located for away from our major food producing areas. And while it's easy and idealistic to say "Just take the food we're not eating and send it to the starving people" its not as easy as that. Food is hard to ship. It's bulky, spoils quickly, has to be protected from extreme temperatures and pests.

We need to start moving away from areas that can't sustain themselves without shipping stuff in from far away.

This:



Needs to line up a little more with this:

[Mickey Blue]

Originally Posted by Bad Ronald

I have to admit, I first became aware of Norman Borlaug via an episode of The West Wing. After that I read up on him and was amazed at his accomplishments. Godspeed, Mr. Borlaug.

No harm, I first became aware of him from the Penn and Teller episode Joe referenced in the OP.

Seems like he was a great human being, the world will miss him.

-MB