The Guillotine

Governor proclaims October 16th "Dr. Norman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Day"

October 11, 2005

Governor Pawlenty has issued a proclamation to help promote and encourage observance of the second annual "Dr. Norman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Day" on October 16.

Norman Ernest Borlaug (born 25 March 1914) is an American agricultural scientist, humanitarian, Nobel laureate, and the father of the Green Revolution. Borlaug received his Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1942. He took up an agricultural research position in Mexico, where he developed semi-dwarf high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties.

Borlaug in Mexico in 2000.

While at the University of Minnesota in the early 1930s, he was a member of the varsity wrestling team, reaching the Big Ten semifinals, and helped introduce the sport to Minnesota high schools by putting on exhibition matches around the state. "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." Borlaug was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma in 1992. Dr. Borlaug, still working around the globe at age 91, may now be responsible for saving more lives than anyone in history. View Governor's proclamation Sources and resources: wikipedia Wrestling Taught Him to Grapple with Hunger Borlaug and the University of Minnesota The Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation