Today is the American holiday Thanksgiving.   It’s a day for family and to give thanks for what we have, especially for food and other basic needs.   Normally, it is God who is cited as the one to give thanks to, but I’d like to thank some others.

Although the following individuals are no longer with us, I still would like to offer thanks, if only to their memory and legacy.  Although they may not be here to appreciate it, others can:

John Deere, who revolutionized agriculture with the invention of the cast steel plow and the mass production of steel agricultural implements, something whose revolutionary improvements in effeciency are lost on most today.

Fritz Haber, whose development of synthetic ammonia and thus the establishment of the modern fertilizer industry has so improved life and saved so many that it far eclipses his work on chemical warfare.

Carl Bosch, whose work with Haber and with BASF turned Haber’s laboratory process into a viable industrial scale system for producing large amounts of fertilizer.

Paul Hermann Müller, Who first discovered the insecticidal properties of DDT and promoted its use.  Although DDT has since fallen from favor, it was the first “modern” insecticide in many respects and paved the way to the widespread use of organochlorides in pest control.

Norman Borlaug, for his tireless promotion of modern agriculture, including synthetic fertilizer and genetic engineering.  His contributions are felt more in the poorest areas of the world than the richest, where his work is credited with saving hundreds of millions, if not over a billion lives.

Seawell Wright, for not only helping to establish modern evolutionary genetics, but for enormous contributions to the understanding of domestic crop and animal genetics and breeding, helping to turn selective breeding and inbreeding into a true science and paving the way for genetic modification of crops and livestock.

To all others who helped establish and improve modern agriculture, including the “Factory Farm,” something most see as a negative term, ignoring the fact that factories the method of producing lots of product at a low cost.   Today the quality, bounty, reliability and economics of our food supply are greater than ever in human history.   Even those just a few generations back would be stunned by the great progress made.  What remains is the hope of extending this progress and bounty to all people of the world.

Final note:  I realize that all those named above are men.  I’m not trying to be sexist, but the fact of the matter is that few prominent scientists and industrialists were women until fairly recently in Western history.  There certainly have been women who have contributed, although their names may have been lost to history, in some circumstances.   However, I should also thank my mom and aunt, who have slaved over a hot stove for most of today and much of yesterday!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Agriculture, Culture, Good Science, History, Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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