Norman Borlaug

 NAME Norman Borlaug

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Revolutionizing agriculture through the development of high-yielding varieties of wheat, which played a key role in the Green Revolution and saved millions of lives from starvation.

BIRTH March 25, 1914, in Saude, near Cresco, Iowa, USA, in his grandparents' farmhouse.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Norman Borlaug was born to farmer Henry Oliver (1889–1971) and homemaker Clara (Vaala) Borlaug (1888–1972) and was the first of four children. His three sisters were Palma Lillian, Charlotte, and Helen. He was raised on a non-mechanized, subsistence farm without cars, trucks, or electricity

Borlaug was the great-grandchild of Norwegian immigrants to the United States. His great-grandparents, Ole Olson Dybevig and Solveig Thomasdatter Rinde, emigrated from Feios, a small village in Vik kommune, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, to Dane County, Wisconsin, in 1854. The family eventually settled in the small Norwegian-American community of Saude, near Cresco, Iowa. Borlaug was a descendant of the Borlaug, Vaala, Swenumson, and Landsverk families who immigrated from Norway in the mid-1800. (1)

CHILDHOOD Norman was a high-energy boy with a twinkle in his eye, endowed with great curiosity and a sense of independence. Naturally introverted, he enjoyed spending time by himself exploring woodlots and streams. He was his grandfather Nels' "shadow," following him around and helping with chores like feeding chickens, collecting eggs, and pulling weeds in the garden.

At age five, Norman began attending the one-room New Oregon Rural School Number 8, walking a mile and a half from his grandparents' home. During his first winter, he nearly perished in a snowstorm when he couldn't keep up with the other children walking home and fell down exhausted. His older cousin Sina Borlaug pulled him from a snow bank and helped him home. He also witnessed the deadly influenza pandemic that reached rural Iowa, with some family friends dying and others being quarantined in their homes. (1)

EDUCATION Borlaug's educational journey began with humble roots but culminated in the highest academic achievements. When he applied for admission to the University of Minnesota in 1933, he failed the entrance exam but was accepted at the school's newly created two-year General College. After two quarters, he transferred to the College of Agriculture's forestry program.

His grandfather Nels Olson Borlaug (1859–1935) strongly encouraged his education, once telling him, "you're wiser to fill your head now if you want to fill your belly later on". This advice would prove prophetic for a man who would later help fill the bellies of billions.

Borlaug received his B.S. in forestry from the University of Minnesota in 1937 and later earned a PhD in plant pathology and genetics from the same university in 1942. (2)

CAREER RECORD Research scientist at the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation

Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

Special Envoy of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for agriculture

APPEARANCE Borlaug was a tall and lanky man with a friendly and approachable demeanor. He often wore a straw hat and a white shirt, reflecting his agricultural background.

Norman Borlaug, in 2004.

FASHION His fashion sense was simple and practical, prioritizing comfort and functionality over trends. He was known for his signature straw hat and white shirt, which became a symbol of his agricultural work.

CHARACTER Norman Borlaug was described as dutiful, organized, polite, and respectful of others – traits he learned in childhood and maintained throughout his life. His work ethic became legendary as he spent endless hours in the fields, investigating and hand-breeding tens of thousands of wheat varieties.

Borlaug showed determination and a force of personality that initiated innovative changes to agriculture. When he received news that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, his initial reaction was skepticism. According to his daughter, Jeanie Laube, when his wife told him, "You won the Nobel Peace Prize," he replied, "No, I haven't," and "It took some convincing... He thought the whole thing was a hoax" (1) (3)

SPEAKING VOICE  His voice was warm and resonant, reflecting his Midwestern roots. He was a skilled communicator, able to convey complex scientific concepts in a clear and engaging manner.

SENSE OF HUMOUR   He had a wry, earthy sense of humor, particularly noted in field interactions, balancing benevolence with assertiveness 

RELATIONSHIPS Norman Borlaug met his wife, Margaret, at the University of Minnesota as he waited tables at a coffee shop in the university's Dinkytown, where the two worked. They were married in 1937 in St Paul's Minnesota in 1941. 

They had three children: Norma Jean "Jeanie" Laube, William Gibson Borlaug, and a son, Scotty, who died from spina bifida shortly after birth. He had five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren

They were married for 60 years, though according to a comment from Margaret, he had "been home for only four" of those years due to his extensive fieldwork breeding wheat in Mexico. Despite his frequent absences, they maintained a strong family. Margaret supported Norman's passion for helping solve the world's food problems while carrying on much of the necessary work of raising a healthy family.

MONEY AND FAME Despite fame from awards like the Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Congressional Gold Medal, Borlaug lived modestly, focusing on his mission rather than wealth. He was little known in affluent countries like the USA but beloved in developing nations, where he was a trusted advisor to farmers and governments 

FOOD AND DRINK During his time leading the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, Borlaug witnessed the transformative impact of regular meals on malnourished workers, which deeply influenced his commitment to combating hunger. 

Borlaug appreciated advancements in food technology, such as the Impossible Burger, which uses genetically engineered wheat—a crop he worked extensively with—to create sustainable alternatives to meat. 

He likely enjoyed simple, practical meals aligned with his agricultural focus.

MUSIC AND ARTS He has been celebrated in creative works such as "The Norman Borlaug Rap" and "Norman Borlaug Polka," which honor his contributions to global agriculture and food security through catchy lyrics and music. (4)

LITERATURE As a scientist, he was immersed in agricultural and scientific literature, particularly in plant pathology and genetics.

NATURE His work and childhood fascination with plants and seasons showed a deep connection to nature, evident in his love for the sound of wheat fields, described as "sweet, whispering music" 

AGRONOMIST CAREER Norman Borlaug's career in agriculture reads like a mix of frontier survival, scientific brilliance, and sheer stubbornness. From 1935 to 1938, before and after earning a Bachelor of Science in forestry, he worked for the United States Forest Service, bouncing between Massachusetts and the remote wilds of Idaho. One summer found him deep in the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, described at the time as "the most isolated piece of wilderness in the nation"—which is to say, if you wanted to find a place more inconveniently located, you'd have to invent teleportation first.

College, however, wasn't cheap, so Borlaug occasionally put his studies on hold to earn money. In 1935, he took a leadership role in the Civilian Conservation Corps, where he supervised unemployed men on federal projects. Many of them were desperately hungry, and he later recalled seeing food transform them: "All of this left scars on me," he said, which—given what was to come—was an understatement of historic proportions.

By 1942, Borlaug had briefly dabbled in the corporate world at DuPont, but in 1944, he found his true calling when he joined the Rockefeller Foundation’s agricultural program in Mexico. It was here that he embarked on an agricultural adventure that would change the course of global food production. His mission? To develop a wheat variety that was high-yielding, disease-resistant, and—critically—short.

This last part was important. Traditional wheat plants had the unfortunate habit of growing tall and then toppling over when farmers applied fertilizers to boost grain production. Using the Norin 10 dwarfing gene from Japan (a botanical gift post-World War II), Borlaug set out to breed a wheat variety that could hold up under the weight of its own success—literally.

His other major battle was against wheat rust, a pesky fungal disease that had been tormenting farmers for millennia. Borlaug’s response was nothing short of ingenious: he bred "composite varieties" that looked identical but had different genetic makeups, making it much harder for rust pathogens to adapt and attack. He also used a technique called 'gene pyramiding' to stack multiple resistance genes in a single plant, and 'gene deployment' to keep pathogens guessing. Essentially, he played an elaborate game of genetic chess against fungi—and won.

By 1963, Mexico had gone from a wheat importer to a net exporter, thanks almost entirely to Borlaug’s efforts. When famine loomed in South Asia in the 1960s, he turned his attention there, introducing his high-yield wheat to Pakistan and India. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat production in both countries nearly doubled, pulling millions back from the brink of starvation.

Later in life, Borlaug set his sights on Africa, partnering with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the Sasakawa Africa Association to bring his agricultural methods to the continent. Though the challenges were different, Borlaug’s approach remained the same: figure out what’s killing the crops, outsmart it, and, above all, feed as many people as possible.

All in all, not bad for a guy who started out planting trees in the Idaho wilderness.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS hile at the University of Minnesota, Borlaug was a member of the football, baseball, and wrestling teams. As a wrestler, he reached the Big Ten semifinals and promoted the sport to Minnesota high schools in exhibition matches around the state. His wrestling coach, Dave Barthelma, continually encouraged him to "give 105%".

Borlaug later reflected on the impact of wrestling in his life: "Wrestling taught me some valuable lessons... I always figured I could hold my own against the best in the world. It made me tough. Many times, I drew on that strength. It's an inappropriate crutch perhaps, but that's the way I'm made".

His contributions to wrestling were recognized when he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Outside of wrestling, Borlaug also helped introduce Little League baseball in Mexico.

Borlaug wrestling at the University of Minnesota. University of Minnesota Department of Plant Pathology 

SCIENCE AND MATHS His expertise lay in plant pathology and genetics, applying scientific methods to enhance crop yields, a cornerstone of his career. Borlaug was a skilled experimenter and a keen observer of plant behavior.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Borlaug believed deeply in the vital role of agriculture and food production in creating a world that was hungry for both bread and peace. This was reflected in his Nobel Lecture, where he speculated that the Nobel Committee was "selecting an individual to symbolize the vital role of agriculture and food production in a world that is hungry, both for bread and for peace".

While Borlaug recognized the tremendous potential of agricultural innovation, he also understood its limitations in the face of population growth. In his Nobel Lecture, he stated: "The green revolution has won a temporary success in man's war against hunger and deprivation; it has given man a breathing space. But the frightening power of human reproduction must also be curbed; otherwise, the success of the green revolution will be ephemeral only".

He believed humans were "potentially rational" and would eventually recognize the "self-destructive course" of irresponsible population growth. His approach to agriculture was also shaped by his early training in forest ecology, fostering productivity-based agriculture to avoid converting forest land to farming. (5)

Norman Borlaug was a devout Christian. He was raised in a Lutheran family and was baptized and confirmed at Saude Lutheran Church in Iowa. His Christian faith significantly influenced his worldview and humanitarian efforts, particularly his dedication to alleviating hunger and poverty. 

Borlaug explicitly credited God for inspiring his innovative thinking and described creative work as "the best medicine that God has given to men and women to work for the benefit of the family, community, nation, and lastly the world at large". His faith shaped his philosophy of science and his commitment to improving human well-being through agricultural advancements. (6)

POLITICS While not politically active, Borlaug worked with governments to implement agricultural policies, advocating for fertilizers and modern techniques against environmental critiques, cautioning, "There are no miracles in agricultural production"

SCANDAL There were no major scandals associated with Borlaug's life or career.

MILITARY RECORD During World War II, Borlaug worked for DuPont on scientific projects, deemed too valuable to enlist, developing adhesives and materials.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Living to 95, Borlaug maintained good health, likely due to his active fieldwork, with no major health issues documented until his lymphoma diagnosis.

HOMES Born in Iowa, he spent significant years in Mexico for his wheat program, and later resided in Texas as a professor at Texas A&M University.

TRAVEL His work as an agricultural scientist took him to many countries like Mexico, Pakistan, India,  to assess agricultural needs and provide technical assistance.

DEATH Norman Borlaug died on September 12, 2009, in Dallas, Texas, at the age of 95 due to complications from lymphoma. His last spoken words on the night of his death were reportedly: "Take the tracer to the farmer," after a scientist had shown him a nitrogen tracer developed for measuring soil fertility. These final words reflected his lifelong dedication to bringing scientific innovation directly to farmers without delay.

A portion of Borlaug's ashes was interred in a monument built in the Yaqui Valley of Sonora, Mexico—a place he deeply loved and where he carried out much of his groundbreaking agricultural research. The monument includes a bronze statue of Borlaug among wheat plants and an urn vault containing his ashes. Surrounding the site are flags from 24 nations that benefited from his work. The dedication ceremony for this international monument took place on March 25, 2010, which would have been Borlaug's 96th birthday.

In accordance with his wishes, other portions of his ashes were also interred in Minnesota, where he earned his academic degrees, and Iowa, where he was born and where the World Food Prize Foundation is located. These final resting places honor Borlaug's profound connection to the regions that shaped his life and career.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Borlaug's life and work have been the subject of numerous books, documentaries, and articles. 

Dr. Leon Hesser's 2006 book The Man Who Fed the World: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug and His Battle to End World Hunger received the 2006 Print of Peace award, as part of International Read For Peace Week. 

In 2014, a statue of him was placed in the National Statuary Hall of the United States Congress, where he is the sole scientist represented. 

Borlaug was the subject of the documentary film The Man Who Tried to Feed the World which first aired on American Experience in 2020.

His life and work have also inspired creative tributes like "The Norman Borlaug Rap (Thank You, Norman)," which celebrates his contributions to fighting world hunger

ACHIEVEMENTS Nobel Peace Prize (1970)

Presidential Medal of Freedom (1991)

Congressional Gold Medal (2006)

Considered one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century, saving an estimated one billion lives through his work on the Green Revolution.

Sources (1) University of Minnesota (2) Encyclopedia of Britannica (3) Science Heroes (4) Agbio World (5) World Food Program USA (6) Jesus Skeptic