Norman Borlaug, agronomist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has died.  A widower, he leaves behind five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and 245,000,000 people who would have died of starvation without his work in the Green Revolution.

245,000,000 is, by the way, the conservative estimate. It’s been suggested that Dr. Borlaug may have saved up to 1,000,000,000 people with his work in practical agronomy; it’s certainly true that his work put a stake through the heart of the 1980s doomsday scenarios popularized by Paul R. Ehrlich and others.

Moe Lane

PS: Expect the above links to be about the extent of the public acclaim and respect shown to Dr. Borlaug, by the way.  As for accolades from the current administration… well, you tell me whether they’ll honor the man who made Paul Ehrlich look like a purblind fool.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.