Norman Ernest Borlaug

Norman Ernest Borlaug, born in 1914, American agronomist and Nobel laureate. He was born in Cresco, Iowa, and educated at the University of Minnesota. After several years as a plant pathologist, Borlaug joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 1944. He was assigned to the foundation's international maize and wheat improvement center in Mexico, where he and his international team of scientists began work to improve the yield of wheat and rice plants and to train technicians from all over the world. This work resulted in a strain of wheat characterized by higher protein content and higher yield. Borlaug was awarded the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.