The Man Who Saved A Billion Lives Quiz

Answer: Iowa

Norman Borlaug was born in Saude, Iowa, on March 14th, 1914. As a child and young man, Borlaug worked on his family's 100 acre farm in Protivin, Iowa. He left the farm when his grandfather suggested college with the following quote: "You're wiser to fill your head now if you want to fill your belly later on."

Answer: University of Minnesota

Borlaug attended college during the Great Depression. He frequently had to leave college in order to earn money for tuition. Seeing his fellow Americans hungry during this time of economic crisis made an impression on him. In a 2002 interview he was quoted: "I saw how food changed them ... All of this left scars on me".

He eventually received a Ph.D in plant pathology and genetics from Minnesota in 1942.

Answer: Mexico

As a member of the Cooperative Wheat Research Production Program, Borlaug spent 16 years working in Mexico, although he did briefly resign at one point. His boss opposed Borlaug's plan to plant wheat twice in a year as it was believed at the time to put too much strain on seedlings, leading to low yields or crop failures. Eventually Borlaug rescinded his resignation and the wheat was in fact planted twice, resulting in varieties that thrived in different altitudes and climates and a much higher annual crop yield.

Answer: Dwarfing

Through the creation of these new varieties, dwarf and disease-resistant wheat called Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62, crop yields were 600% of what they were less than 20 years earlier allowing Mexico to become a net exporter of wheat.

Answer: The Green Revolution

In the late 1960's the Indian Subcontinent had been written off by many, perhaps most famously by biologist Paul R. Ehrlich who wrote in his 1968 book The Population Bomb: "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." Through the work of Borlaug, Pakistan produced enough wheat for its needs in 1968. By 1974, India was self-sufficient in the production of all grains. Ehrlich probably should have stuck to the study of butterflies. Borlaug is considered the father of the Green Revolution.

Answer: 1970

From the award presentation: "This year the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament has awarded Nobel's Peace Prize to a scientist, Dr. Norman Ernest Borlaug, because, more than any other single person of this age, he has helped to provide bread for a hungry world. We have made this choice in the hope that providing bread will also give the world peace."

Answer: An Honorary Knighthood

He was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1977 which is one of the two highest civilian awards bestowed in the United States. The other, the Congressional Gold Medal, was given to Borlaug in 2006. As cited in the award: "Dr. Borlaug has saved more lives than any other person who has ever lived." He received the National Medal of Science in 2004.

Answer: World Food Prize

Since 1990 this award has been funded by John Ruan, an Iowa businessman, and the winner receives US $250,000. Among the winners: Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Foundation and a Nobel Peace Prize winner in his own right. For more information: http://www.grameenfoundation.org/

Answer: True

From an article in The Atlantic in 1997: "The world's 1950 grain output of 692 million tons came from 1.7 billion acres of cropland, the 1992 output of 1.9 billion tons from 1.73 billion acres -- a 170 percent increase from one percent more land". This is called the Borlaug hypothesis which states that increasing the productivity of agriculture on the best farmland can help control deforestation by reducing the demand for new farmland.

Answer: 95

Borlaug passed away in September 2009. His legacy is best summed up by an obituary in the "Wall Street Journal" that described him as "the man that fed the world".