Norman Borlaug, the man who saved more human lives than anyone else in history, has died at age 95. Borlaug was the Father of the Green Revolution, the dramatic improvement in agricultural productivity that swept the globe in the 1960s. For spearheading this achievement, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.¹

Norman Borlaug has died.

He justly lived a long life. But his death won’t get a thousandth of the coverage, say, Michael Jackson’s did. And it won’t get a tenth of the coverage someone like Paul Ehrlich’s will.

All Borlaug did was invent modern high-yield agriculture, then teach it to the world. He likely saved a billion people from starving to death in India and Pakistan alone.

He was a great man. If one way of measuring a life is by the number of other lives a man saved or bettered, Borlaug was certainly one of the greatest human beings who ever lived.

Rest in peace.²

1. Ronald Bailey – Norman Borlaug: The Man Who Saved More Human Lives Than Any Other Has Died [↩]
2. Radley Balko – The Man Who Saved a Billion Lives [↩]