DR. NORMAN E. BORLAUG'S MEDALS ON DISPLAY

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V12 2009 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 12, Number 40, October 4, 2009, Article 11

There are medals and then there are medals. Among the world's highest honors are the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Only five people have been honored with all three - The first four were Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and Elie Wiesel. Number five? Norman Borlaug.

While his name isn't a household word, it ought to be. Borlaug's groundbreaking research into increasing crop yields spawned an agricultural revolution that saved millions from hunger. If real life were a science fiction movie with the world in danger of imminent starvation, Borlaug would be the mousy scientist in a lab coat whose brainstorm saves the planet.

He is the Rita Moreno of achievement awards, and deservedly so. But when he passed away in September his obituary ran almost unnoticed beneath a blizzard of B-list celebrity deaths. But on October 6th visitors to his memorial service at Texas A&M University will be treated to an exhibit of his astounding medal collection. -Editor

People who attend memorial services for Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Oct. 6 can get a view of a rare collection of medals. Borlaug was one of only five people ever to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. When he was granted the congressional medal in 2007, he joined Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and Elie Wiesel as winners of all three prestigious honors.

Those three medals, along with Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle, will be on display in Texas A&M University's Rudder Tower on Tuesday, Oct. 6 from 9:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. The memorial service will begin at 11 a.m. It is free and open to the public. A reception will follow from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Rudder Tower Exhibit Room.

Also available for public viewing will be a new collection of video segments of Borlaug recalling various highlights of his career and expressing his opinion of what battles remain in the fight against global hunger. The collection will air repeatedly throughout Oct. 5-6 at the Rudder Tower Visitor Center. It is also free and open to the public.