A long life well lived, which prolonged or made possible the lives of countless others.
One of the most mundane yet consequential advances in human history is the increase in crop yields for food staples. The same land as before can now feed several times as many people because agricultural scientists were able to engineer crops that are more durable. Since the 1960s, crop yields have nearly doubled for oats and potatoes, more than doubled for rice and barley, and roughly tripled for wheat and maize.
These advances have coincided with a sharp fall in the rates of hunger in poor countries around the world. In 1970, 35 percent of people in developing countries were undernourished; by 2015, it was only 13 percent. The share of the world’s population in extreme poverty has declined even faster, from 45 percent in 1970 to 12 percent in 2015.
One of the leading scientists who brought about this tremendous advance was M. S. Swaminathan. Born in India, then still under British colonial rule, Swaminathan knew firsthand the effects of famine in poor countries. He studied agricultural science, earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Madras, his doctorate from Cambridge, and doing postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin with the goal of creating better crops to help alleviate food shortages.
He succeeded beyond what any reasonable person could have expected. At the University of Wisconsin, Swaminathan met American scientist Norman Borlaug, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work increasing crop yields. A plaque at Madison now marks the spot where they met as “the birthplace of the Green Revolution.” Swaminathan helped develop better potatoes, wheat, and rice. He demonstrated the success of the superior crops in newly independent India, and their subsequent adoption by farmers contributed greatly to the decline in hunger and poverty in what is now the world’s most populous country.
Going beyond the scientific work, Swaminathan established new institutions and worked within existing ones to make sure his ideas were put into practice. He was honored with presidential appointment to a seat in the upper house of the Indian parliament from 2007 to 2013.
“Mahatma Gandhi once said that God can only appear to poor people in the form of bread. To Indians, that God is none other than M. S. Swaminathan,” said Ashok Kumar Singh, the principal scientist at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, according to an article in ThePrint. Singh is one of countless Indian agricultural scientists whom Swaminathan mentored.
Balakrishnan Nair of the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services told ThePrint that Swaminathan also helped establish his agency in 2001, to help Indian fisherman have accurate information about hazards at sea. “He was always of the view that scientific knowledge belongs with the people, and it is our job to provide it to them,” Nair said.
M. S. Swaminathan died today at the age of 98 in Chennai. A long life well lived, which prolonged or made possible the lives of countless others. R.I.P.