Nobel Peace Prize winner Borlaug
to be honored at U
Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug returns to the U to present an award,
celebrate a book - and mark a new day in his honor
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (9/12/2006) -- Norman Borlaug, the 1970 Nobel
Peace Prize winner and University of Minnesota alumnus, will visit the
university’s St. Paul campus next week to take part in the annual E.C.
Stakman Award ceremony and to mark the release of a new biography, “The
Man Who Fed the World,” by friend and colleague Leon Hesser.
Borlaug and Hesser will be on campus Monday, Sept. 18 -- the date that
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently declared to be Dr. Norman E.
Borlaug Day in recognition of Borlaug’s contributions to the
university, the state and the world.
Borlaug earned his bachelor’s degree from the U in 1937, his master’s
degree in 1939 and his doctorate degree in 1942. A plant pathologist by
training, he has spent the better part of six decades fighting hunger
in Africa, Asia and Mexico - saving, by some estimates, as many as 1
billion lives. Hesser, who earned his doctorate degree in agricultural
economics from Purdue University, met Borlaug in Pakistan in 1966;
Hesser then worked to introduce Borlaug’s high-yield seeds and
production techniques to the Asian subcontinent.
Hesser’s book, which features a foreword by former president Jimmy
Carter, describes Borlaug’s life in straightforward prose befitting his
Norwegian immigrant family and rural Iowa upbringing. Underlying themes
of old-fashioned common sense, decency, humility and hard work still
resonate because Borlaug’s work -- in fields, laboratories and the
halls of government -- continues today.
Their arrival kicks off a full slate of activities, including the
following events open to the university community and the media:
1:45 - 2:30 p.m. Seminar by Leon Hesser: “Unsung Hero: The Man Who Fed
the World,” with an introduction and comments by Norman Borlaug. 105
Cargill Building, 1500 Gortner Ave., St. Paul.
3:15 - 5:00 p.m. Stakman Award reception and Hesser book signing.
Cargill Atrium, 1500 Gortner Ave., St. Paul.
Borlaug and Hesser will also take part in various departmental
activities, including seminars and discussion sessions with plant
pathology graduate students and undergraduate ambassadors, as well as
the Stakman award ceremony, in which Borlaug will speak to the
accomplishments of this year’s recipient, U alumnus John Gibler.
The department of plant pathology presents the Stakman award for
outstanding achievements in plant pathology. Gibler’s work paralleled
that of his Rockefeller Foundation mentors, Stakman and Borlaug - he is
recognized in particular for his work leading to the development of
disease-resistant cereals throughout Latin America, the adaptation of
cereal varieties and soybean production protocols for “worn-out” soils
in Brazil, and the training and organizing of plant scientists in Latin
America, as well as for his unique abilities to influence politicians,
administrators and growers worldwide to adopt policies and protocols
that will help end world hunger.
Gibler earned his master’s degree from the U of M in 1950, and his
doctorate degree in 1951. As Gibler is unable to attend the award
ceremony, his daughter, Jan Krukar, will receive award on his behalf.
The following is the text of Gov. Pawlenty’s proclamation.
WHEREAS: Norman Ernest
Borlaug was born March 25, 1914, on a farm in Iowa and received a
bachelor of science degree in forestry from the University of Minnesota
in 1937; and
WHEREAS: Norman Borlaug
was a varsity wrestler at the University of Minnesota. Through
exhibition matches, he helped introduce the sport to high schools
throughout Minnesota and refereed the first-ever Minnesota State High
School Wrestling Tournament in 1938; and
WHEREAS: After receiving
his degree, Borlaug started work with the U. S. Forestry Service at
stations located in Massachusetts and Idaho; and
WHEREAS: After returning
to Minnesota, Borlaug received a master’s degree in 1939 and a
doctorate degree in 1942, both from the University of Minnesota; and
WHEREAS: In 1944, Borlaug
accepted an appointment as geneticist and plant pathologist to organize
and direct the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program in
Mexico. This appointment allowed him to be involved in scientific
research in genetics and for the next 16 years he was extremely
successful in finding a high-yielding, short-strawed, disease-resistant
wheat; and
WHEREAS: Borlaug’s
agriculture research in Mexico improved crop management practices and
transformed agricultural production in Mexico during the 1940s and
1950s and later in Asia and Latin America; and
WHEREAS: In 1970, Dr.
Norman Ernest Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his
lifetime work in agriculture, which has resulted in saving millions of
human lives by preventing famine and alleviating hunger and
malnutrition.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, TIM PAWLENTY, Governor of Minnesota, proclaim
Monday, September 18, 2006, to be: