Because Borlaug Wasn’t Born in Boston…
What does Borlaug have to have to do with supercomputing?
Norman Borlaug was one of the most important scientists of all time and the only person to have been credited for saving one billion people from starvation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Congressional Gold Medal, and became known around the world as the Father of The Green Revolution.
After experiencing the Dust Bowl and World War II as a young adult, he understood the connection between food security and world peace. He earned a PhD in plant pathology, and set out to develop varieties of wheat that would withstand extreme environmental conditions. He realized it would take lifetimes to progress with the traditional methods of cross-breeding, so his research group established test sites in field stations across the US and Mexico where there are multiple growing seasons each year. The distributed approach significantly expedited the process of discovery, and his work would ultimately increase Mexican wheat production four-fold. Borlaug continued his work in Asia and Africa, where all would eventually experience tremendous economic improvements.
Borlaug was a “Hunger Fighter,” and encouraged his comrades-in-arms to continue the battle. Fortunately, today’s hunger fighters are armed with big data and fast computers. They are also likely to have been born in, or near agricultural regions and therefore might lack access and opportunity to train in the use of advanced computational resources, data analysis and visualization techniques.
Borlaug’s roots justify “HPC On Common Ground @ SC16,” and qualified hunger fighters are encouraged to apply by September 2.
Photography credits: “Norman Borlaug with trainees,”. Available under creative commons license via CIMMYT.