Dr. Borlaug turns 95

Dr. Norman Borlaug turned 95 yesterday - and you can wish him a happy birthday.

Dr. Borlaug, of course, is credited for launching the Green Revolution. For a full history on this living legend, check out his bio at the World Food Prize site.

Dr. Borlaug has won the Nobel Peace Prize and been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Only four other folks have achieved such accolades: Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Mother Teresa and Dr. Martin Luther King. Pretty good group, huh?

He has also received the Padma Vibhushan - India's highest civilian honor to non-citizens. Oh yeah...he started the World Food Prize, too.

Credited with saving millions and perhaps billions of lives, more than any other person ever, Dr. Borlaug is a firm believer in science and technology, and how science can feed the world.

Here is a video of Dr. Borlaug talking about science and technology.



In the video below - a clip from a Penn & Teller episode on food production - Borlaug has an important line - You can't build a peaceful world on empty stomachs and human misery.



For the full 10-minute feature from Penn & Teller on food and hunger (from their series on Showtime), where they blast the anti-technology folks at Greenpeace and highlight Dr. Borlaug and technology, click here.
(FYI - It ends with an outburst from Penn that would cause it to get a PG-13 rating.)

Here is another quote:

Man can and must prevent the tragedy of famine in the future instead of merely trying with pious regret to salvage the human wreckage of the famine, as he has so often done in the past.