ABSTRACT
Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his advances in plant breeding, which led to spectacular success in increasing food production in Latin America and Asia. Borlaug received his BSc in Forestry in 1937 and PhD in plant pathology and genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1942. In 1964, Borlaug was made the director of the International Wheat Improvement Program at El Batan, Texcoco, on the eastern fringes of Mexico City, as part of the newly established Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research’s International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. Borlaug’s work had been concentrated in the central highlands, in the village of Chapingo near Texcoco, where the problems with rust and poor soil were most prevalent. In 1953, Borlaug extended the technique by suggesting that several pure lines with different resistance genes should be developed through backcross methods using one recurrent parent.
