Norman Borlaug, the plant breeder known as the father of the Green Revolution, passed away on Saturday at the age of 95. His life was one of extraordinary paradoxes: a child of the Iowa prairie during the Great Depression who attended a one-room school, aspired to become a high school science teacher but flunked the university entrance exam -- yet ultimately went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for a series of agricultural innovations that averted malnutrition, famine and the death of millions.
In the Valley we talk a lot about innovation that enable people to compute and communicate better, but Norman Borlaug's innovations literally helped feed the world. While some were predicting mass starvation, the "father of the Green Revolution" was making sure that wouldn't happen. Let's hope the future Norman Borlaug's of the world are given the freedom to innovate for the sake of generations to come.
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