Yuan Longping Dies, Scientist Whose Rice Research Helped Feed World (apnews.com) 28
An anonymous reader quotes the Associated Press: Yuan Longping, a Chinese scientist who developed higher-yield rice varieties that helped feed people around the world, died Saturday at a hospital in the southern city of Changsha, the Xinhua News agency reported. He was 90.
Yuan spent his life researching rice and was a household name in China, known by the nickname "Father of Hybrid Rice." Worldwide, a fifth of all rice now comes from species created by hybrid rice following Yuan's breakthrough discoveries, according to the website of the World Food Prize, which he won in 2004...
It was in the 1970s when Yuan achieved the breakthroughs that would make him a household name. He developed a hybrid strain of rice that recorded an annual yield 20% higher than existing varieties — meaning it could feed an extra 70 million people a year, according to Xinhua...
Yuan and his team worked with dozens of countries around the world to address issues of food security as well as malnutrition.
Yuan spent his life researching rice and was a household name in China, known by the nickname "Father of Hybrid Rice." Worldwide, a fifth of all rice now comes from species created by hybrid rice following Yuan's breakthrough discoveries, according to the website of the World Food Prize, which he won in 2004...
It was in the 1970s when Yuan achieved the breakthroughs that would make him a household name. He developed a hybrid strain of rice that recorded an annual yield 20% higher than existing varieties — meaning it could feed an extra 70 million people a year, according to Xinhua...
Yuan and his team worked with dozens of countries around the world to address issues of food security as well as malnutrition.
Seriously impressive legacy (Score:5, Insightful)
You have to be impressed by someone making a contribution like he did - feeding an extra 70 million people annually!
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I dunno, Thanos had a better plan by wiping out half the universe.
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Re: Seriously impressive legacy (Score:2)
Compare that to Monsanto...
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In short, one emphasized stakeholder value, the other shareholder value.
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http://www.goldenrice.org/Cont... [goldenrice.org]
While they may be reviled by you, more objective people see some positives as well.
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I was completely unaware of Syngenta's waiver of patent for the Golden Rice strain; that's going to do a tremendous amount of good in the world, and I'm delighted to see it ... thanks for sharing that.
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Well damn. An to add insult to this, nobody outside a small circle will know of this man. True hero's rarely have their praises sung in the mead halls.
Re: Seriously impressive legacy (Score:2)
it had to be said (Score:4, Funny)
his ping timed out
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Oh I saw they finally released the name of that pilot, Sum Ting Wong.
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So your solution to overpopulation is to stop innovating in food production? Either starve millions, or push governments into draconion regulation of reproduction? Surely there has to be a better way. Birthrates are dropping globally, and it's well understood what makes it happen, if not exactly how.
Developing processes for feeding people more efficiently is a good thing. Spreading the prosperity and education that slows down breeding is another good thing. Starving people and denying their reproductive rig
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If you have the Curiosity Stream, as everyone should have, look up a video called Don't Panic: The Truth About Population. I found it to be a real eye opener.
Household name? (Score:1)
> It was in the 1970s when Yuan achieved the breakthroughs that would make him a household name.
Show of hands: who's heard of Yuan Longping before reading this article?
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Summary specifically says household name in China. So the real question is, by show of hands, who is from China and heard of Yuan Longping? I suspect most of the younger generations have not heard of him, but wouldn't be surprised if the older generations of Chinese knew his name.
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Actually it seems like the regime has really made sure everyone knows his name. Disturbingly, since he's designated as an official "national hero," insulting his name or questioning his achievements is strictly illegal. So if someone questions his environmental legacy, for instance, off to a reeducation camp for you. Wonder how long the CCP can keep this up. It's a relatively small elite vs billions of people.
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I suspect a lot of people in China have heard of him. Probably a number of Chinese learners have encountered lessons in their textbooks about him as well. But I doubt many westerners with no China domain knowledge would have heard of him.
I suppose it's good that westerners know more about China, however it's disturbing when you see political narratives repeated in western media that you previously only heard in a Chinese context. While someone making scientific achievements is certainly worthy of prai
Re: Household name? (Score:2)
So he's the Norman Borlaug of China (Score:2)
That's fine company [wikipedia.org] to be in.
Headline (Score:2)
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