American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers: Achieving Global Food Security through Innovation

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers: Achieving Global Food Security through Innovation

 Year in, year out, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) creates a challenging competition among its members and their engineering firms to innovate and invent efficient agricultural technologies. The technologies, mostly devices or practices are aimed at improving productivity, cost minimization and time efficiency of the entire agricultural value chain. ASABE is perhaps one of the biggest and most vibrant global professional bodies under the World Engineering Family. It has members across the five continents of the World and runs global activities in 9 to 10 months of the year. It proactively inspires the inter and intra regional gatherings of Agricultural Engineers to discuss local and international challenges to agricultural mechanization ranging from conventional farm power to renewable energy, farm machinery to power optimization and many other common and emerging issues.

ASABE has over 9,000 members in over 100 countries across all the continents in the World. Its international membership drive is responsible for being present in these multiple countries, thus, making it the most populous engineering profession and second to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in the United State of America. ASABE members are the leading group of professionals in the production, transportation, storage, and use of renewable resources worldwide. They use their knowledge of science and technology to meet the most fundamental needs of humanity: safe and abundant food; clean water; fiber, timber, and renewable sources of fuel; and life-enhancing and life-saving products from bio-based materials. And they do this with a constant eye toward the improved protection of the people, livestock, wildlife, natural resources, eco – system and the entire environment. There is a substantial part of agricultural engineering program called “ergonomics” devoted for the safety, comfort and pleasure of the operators of engineering products and services. ASABE serves many functions to members and other relevant stakeholders: it provides a forum for communication of research findings through conferences, scientific journals, and a magazine; it develops standards of practice; it provides opportunities for members to network, exchange knowledge and experiences. Again, ASABE as a professional platform of agricultural and bio-resources engineers, a profession with cross – cutting issues is enmeshed between two giant developmental divisions of the society; agriculture and engineering. This unique position is what makes agricultural engineering versatile and essential for increased productivity and efficient agricultural development.

Historically, ASABE has long lasting history spanning a century and decade ago; it was created as American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) in 1907 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE). After years of debate, members of the organization voted in 2005 to modify the name to better reflect the changes in the profession. This change of name did not come overnight, the discussion had its roots in 1937, but received presidential weight in 1984, when the then ASAE President Bill Harriott was reported to note that in the not-too-distant future, “We will need to consider a name change for the Society.” The discussion, debate between the “conservatives and progressives” continued for more than 20 years. The change was certainly necessary as the discipline was going deep into biological system for many years, had broadened to include engineering for biological systems, and the name change simply reflected the reality. ASAE President Jerry L. Wille was president during the name change, he was quoted saying, “The profession has evolved and expanded over the last almost 100 years. Our engineering skills deal with the entire food and fiber chain and all agricultural and biological systems. Now our professional Society name will be representative and descriptive of this breadth and depth.” A year after the “name change” a new logo was ushered during the annual conference of that year. The new President of the year, Otto J. Loewer stated, “This new look captures the spirit of design criteria and conveys a blend of our profession’s heritage while embracing a bright futuristic global perspective.” A Focal Point for the World in April 2007, the location of the ASABE headquarters facility was declared an ASABE historic landmark. Past President and Past Executive Vice President Jimmy L. Butt noted, “This plaque will forever identify this site as the world focal point for agricultural and biological engineering activities. As the Society looks to the future, ASABE members will continue to be at the forefront of the latest technological advances in agricultural and biological engineering. They will continue to bring exciting innovations to reality, find solutions to engineering challenges, meet the engineering needs of a growing population, and provide engineering for a sustainable tomorrow”.

After the name change, most of the university departments of agricultural engineering had already changed their names. The increase in biological engineering led to a number of breakthroughs that greatly affected the global agriculture system of modern society. Genetically modified organisms for instance have led to massive overhauls in food production, logistics and trade. The debate for this “name change” is rested for now but is likely to come up again as the profession looms deeper into bio – system. During my recent visit to USA, I observed that the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) had already changed the name of her Agricultural Engineering Department to Bio – system Engineering. UNL is the custodian of the famous Nebraska Tractor Testing Laboratory, which provides standard and certification to the manufacturers of tractors globally.  

Today, the headquarters of ASABE is located at St. Joseph, Michigan while its cycles of activities move round the World. ASABE’s biggest gathering is the annual conference and meeting, which holds during summer between the month of July and August of each year. The annual meeting is a 4 – day event, pack – full of activities, which provide members opportunity to interact, exchange ideas, professional knowledge transfer and networking. In addition to normal annual lunch/meeting and conference papers presentation from academia and practicing engineers, the AE 50 outstanding innovations award/recognition is a key event that has a direct bearing to the larger society across the nation. The EA 50 awards encourage and applaud engineering achievement in Agricultural, food and biological system. Nominations are received from companies across the globe, the clientele of engineering profession of all sizes and varying inventive focus. The winning products with clear innovative technologies are selected from distinguished advancements to the market place through improved efficiency, user safety, reduced labor and costs. As usual expert panel of judges evaluate the entries through a transparent process for innovation, impacts on the market served and significant engineering advancement.

In 2017, the ASABE annual meeting took place in Spokane, Washington State between 16^th to 19^th July, 2017. The EA 50 innovation awards were presented to 32 successful companies whose entries were selected for the EA 50 innovation awards. Among the 32 companies, John Deere, manufacturers of the John Deere tractor series and Case IH, manufacturers of the CASE tractors had their five entries each selected for the EA 50 innovation awards. This made them to be the first set of companies achieving the highest feat. Both companies are multinational corporations with their head offices located in USA. The second company whose four entries were selected for the EA 50 innovation awards was Deere Company, the manufacturers of SG series tractors.  AGCO Corporation was the third company with three winning entries in the AE 50 innovation awards. What are these innovations? What are their contributions to achieving global food security? (To be continued next week)  

Meeting American Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn: Finding Hope in a Hungry World III

Meeting American Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn: Finding Hope in a Hungry World III

Mr. Howard G. Buffet is a humanitarian per excellent and a first class photographer, a realist whose spoken and unspoken messages are strong enough to move “mountain”.   He wrote in his famous book; “I have found once I witnessed unnecessary death in our world, complacency is no longer an option. Once I met children who were drugged and turned into killers, I couldn’t pretend it should it should be someone else’s problem. And once I saw an entire generation of children in a refugee camp who had their future stolen, it changed me forever. I couldn’t just go home and forget they exit”. His altruistic demeanor took him to 130 countries working and living out of comfort zone, sometimes in life threatening circumstances, witnessing many things that continue to hunt him – “small children with shackles around their feet, slaves both to hunger and those who captured them”. He met many individuals who struggle on daily basis – a victim of human trafficking, forced prostitution, HIV, yet remain determined to press onwards in life – “hopeful that things will get better”.

The Buffett’s book, “40 chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World” is a book with real-life pictures that speak laud and clear messages on the sturdy need for the world to address human tragedy. A tragedy of “sleeping with empty stomach” in midst of plenty, a tragedy of questioning the “humanity in us”, deliberate creation of conflicts to serve human ego and many similar antecedents. In those 44 years when he crisscrossed 130 countries in six continents, Buffett’s defined moment came, he was faced with sardonicism of life that malnourished people could be seen anywhere even at his backyard, West Virginia where he spotted Everett in 2001. “We visited Everett for a long time, and learned of his service in World War II and his love for his country; but also learned that his country had forgotten his sacrifice. He was old, tired and hungry”. The Everest’s case might be an isolated one in a developed country like USA but it is a most common case in our countries. One can vividly remember the case of retired men and women who littered the streets of Abuja some years back. They were dejected, homeless, and hopeless; in miserable condition with no gratuity or pension and ignored by the society. They were symbol of national disgrace. Thank God that the situation is changing. Another defining moment when Buffett met Dennis Avery; “sometimes in life someone makes a statement that changes your thinking, may be even your direction in life…in 1992, I had focused my philanthropy on conservation initiatives such as cheetah preservation and mountain gorillas… but Dennis statement that “no will starve to save tree” became a clarifying moment”. It made him to understand that “maximizing agricultural production on well – suited land can meet the food needs of people while preventing the conversion of important ecosystems into farm land”. These defined moments made Buffett to invest millions of USD in philanthropy to create hopes to hopeless while protecting the world’s most endangered species and natural habitats.  The phrase “no one will starve to save a tree” has made him to accept that the world contains some people who have little choice in how they treat nature but there are millions with options who must demonstrate the will to stand “our ground to put the future of our planet ahead of our own self interest” as failure will disrupt life’s delicate balance with severed consequences. This was the story of one of the four men of fame, the pillars of World Food Prize Foundation at Des Moines, Iowa State, USA. 

Mr. John Ruan is the last but not the least in the four men of fame as mentioned in the first part of this article. He was an important pillar to the Foundation, in fact, he was acclaimed to be the founder of the World Food Prize Foundation and a longtime sponsor for its annual Prize. In 1997, Ruan endowed the World Food Prize with a $10 million gift. Since then, the Foundation had grown from strength to strength and became a global symbol for the creation hopes for the people down the ladder, looming in abject poverty and misery across the world. Ruan was born in 1914 in Iowa State, had his university degree in Business Admiration, Northwestern University, and was a graduate of the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. He was a consummate business icon who established his business outfit at the age of 18 during his undergraduate program. Ruan started his company on July 4, 1932 when his University tuition money ran out. He traded in the family car for a truck and quickly found success, growing to three trucks hauling coal within a year. At the time of demise, Ruan employed more than 4,700, operated 3,300 power units, 5,400 trailers and managed over 550,000 logistics shipments annually with revenues exceeding $860 million. Of course, his business empire was built over many decades through dint of hard work, dedication, acumen and destiny. John Ruan was driven by grit and determination during the period of economic depression, he ventured a one-truck business into Ruan Transportation Management Systems that became one of the American leading trucking, leasing, and logistics companies. The trucking business made John Ruan one of the wealthiest and most influential personalities in Iowa. That was the foundation for his vast fortune, which included interests in insurance, banking, financial services, international trade, and real estate. In the 1970s and 80s, Ruan led Des Moines’s renaissance with the construction of the 36-story original Ruan Center, the Marriott Hotel tower, and the Two Ruan Center office complex. In addition to successful management of Business Kingdom, Ruan sought out ways to help the less fortunate, privilege people. He recognized hunger and poverty as a major challenge in the world, Ruan set up the World Food Prize Foundation in 1990. Each year, the organization awards the international World Food Prize to acknowledge individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. His humanitarian mien made him established other philanthropic outlets.  The John Ruan Multiple Sclerosis Golf Exhibition is one of the largest charity fund-raising events in the United States. Ruan used the fund raised from the event to support ongoing research at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes MS Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Ruan also sponsored the Ruan Neuroscience Center at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. One of the top-ranked facilities of its kind, the Center provides quality care for people around the globe.Mr. Ruan passed away on February 13, 2010, at the age of 96.  More than 600 people paid him tribute at a Celebration of Life ceremony held on February 18, 2010.  He left his wife, Elizabeth; son John III, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.  His daughter, Elizabeth Jayne Ruan Fletcher, and son Thomas Ruan died before him. Accolades on Mr. John Ruan are the testimony of a life a great man whose legacy outlived him.  “John Ruan was a recognized leader in business, education, and community, he was the visionary who formed the World Food Prize. But most importantly, he was a man of courage and conviction, a leader who made others stronger and better because they knew him.” said Thomas Donahue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who was quoted by an online publication. “John knew what the Prize could become. He knew it would be the centerpiece to help solve world hunger and bring glory to Iowa,” said Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, president of The World Food Prize Foundation.

The collective breakthrough by the four men of fame is inspiring with many lessons for us in Nigeria. The major lesson is how four men with diverse professions; two accomplished business men (Buffett and Ruan), a renown scientist (Borlaug) and a retired diplomat (Quin) linked by personal desire to fight hunger and poverty at global level, built the world food prize foundation to its current efficacious status. Nigeria is blessed with men and women who excelled in their various disciplines at global arena. These distinguished personalities could come together to establish a joint foundation for the facilitation community development programs, conflicts resolution and promotion of unity in diversity. I hope the Dangotes, Adetolas, and many others are hearing me.  The history can start today. 

Meeting American Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn: Finding Hope in a Hungry World II

Meeting American Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn: Finding Hope in a Hungry World II

Dr. Borlaug career as agricultural scientist was spectacularly successful. As mentioned in my first part of this article, he was able to fabulously achieve a historic milestone of his career within twenty years of service when he bred a high-yielding short-straw, disease-resistant variety of wheat. Added to this scientific goal, was his practical humanitarian posture. Thus, he worked hard to put the new wheat strains into extensive production for the purpose of feeding the hungry people of the world. This success thrilled him and the scientific world, he astoundingly described his breakthrough as "a temporary success in man's war against hunger and deprivation, a breathing space in which to deal with the “Population Monster" and the subsequent environmental and social ills that too often lead to conflict between men and between nations”. The scientific and humanitarian mien of Borlaug made him crisscrossed the globe and visited many countries; India, Pakistan, Latin America, Middle East and several African countries.

To us in Nigeria, Dr. Borlaug was a famous hero for the wheat and maize farmers of Kano, Saminaka, Bauchi and the host of other farming communities in the country. He raised the yield of maize from mere average of 1.5 to 8 tons per hectare with his improved varieties and practices. This was done under the auspices of SASAKAWA Global 2000, popularly known as SG 2000 (reader can refer to my article in October, 2015 for more information on SG 2000).

Borlaug’s adventure into Africa was initiated and facilitated by Mr. Ryoichi Sasakawa, the Chairman of the Japanese Shipbuilding Industry Foundation (JSIF). Mr. Ryoichi was a first class philanthropist. He was the first to fly aid into Africa when the continent was devastated by the worst famine of the 1980s. About 20 countries were hit with a consequential colossal loss of human dignity that greatly shocked the whole World. The worst affected countries were those located in Sub Sahara region. Mr. Ryoichi was fully aware that flying in food items was only an immediate solution to the food crisis and the permanent solution is attacking the underlying causes of African's food crisis not just the symptoms. Thus, he was fully aware that the permanent and sustainable solution to the menancing food crisis could only come from the use of improved agricultural production. This must involve the use of high-yielding crop varieties and improved agronomic practices. Looking for this solution led Mr. Ryoichi to engage the services of a renowned scientist, Mr. Norman E. Borlaug, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who eventually became the President, Sasakawa Africa Association, and Senior Consultant, Global 2000. At the same time, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, also deeply concerned about Africa's food production crisis and looking for ways to help solve it, offered his collaboration and assistance, especially in the policy making arena and mobilization of African Leaders, which was critical to overcoming the many problems plaguing agricultural development in Africa.

In January 1986, Mr. Sasakawa, President Carter, Dr. Leslie Swindale (Director General of ICRISAT) and Dr. Borlaug visited several Africa nations for discussions with government leaders about the prospects of establishing action – oriented, food crop technology transfer projects. They found strong interest for their proposals. Consequently, two agricultural development projects were launched in Sudan and Ghana, which was successfully managed by SG 2000 with gorgeous results.

Dr. Borlaug visited Nigeria in 1992 when SG 2000 came to Nigeria. He saw the successful take up of the SG 2000 in Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi states. He came back in 1993 when he witnessed the field day of wheat in Kadawa, Kano State. To the incredulity of the audience, the trial field of wheat at Kadawa demonstrated the efficacy of Borlaug’s wheat variety. The new variety, code named “Seri-82” developed by Borlaug, brought into Nigeria yielded about 4 tons per hectare against the 1.5 tons per hectare using local variety under the same farmer’s management. Dr. Borlaug returned into the country a year after when he visited Saminaka town in Kaduna state for the maize field day. Another improved variety of maize being promoted by the same scientist that yielded about 8 tons per hectare against 2.5 tons per hectare when local variety was used. He made another visit in 2001 when he presented a paper during the National Maize Workshop at Assembly Hall of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. It was at that workshop, he told us, the audience (I was one of them) that he was aware of the much talk about “Nigerian potential” but “people cannot eat potential and potential is only useful to us when it is converted into tangible result”. Dr. Borlaug was very optimistic that Africa will make a green revolution with appropriate support and commitment of the African leaders. His famous message at all times even at the time of his demise “take it to the farmer”. He was certainly a darling to small-scale farmers, a good ally to large farmers and a mentor/inspirer/guardian to the agricultural scientists. No wonder, when one of his students developed a most promising variety of wheat, he code named it “Norman”, after the first name of Borlaug. This new variety of wheat gives as much as 8 tons per hectare. One of the testimonies showing Borlaug’s deep love for Africa was the event of 15^th October, 2014 during the launching of innovative social enterprise projects to address hunger and poverty in Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.  During the occasion, Amb. Kenneth M. Quinn, President of The World Food Prize stated that “World Food Prize founder Dr. Norman Borlaug’s two most ardent wishes were to promote development in Africa and to inspire the next generation”. Thus, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), and the World Food Prize Foundation named four young entrepreneurs under age 40 as the recipients of $150,000.

Mr. Howard G. Buffett is another dignitary among the four men of fame whose significant contribution brought the World Food Prize Foundation to its current global rating. Howard Graham Buffett was born on 16^th December 1954 to the billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Mr. Howard is an American businessman, former politician, philanthropist, photographer, farmer, and conservationist. He was named after Howard Buffett, his grandfather, and Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett's favorite professor. He is the chairman of Howard Buffett Foundation, which was established in 1999. The foundation mission is to “catalyze transformational change, particularly for the world’s most impoverished and marginalized populations” The online 2015 annual report of the foundation states that fund is invested in three main areas: Food Security, Conflict Mitigation and Public Safety. The support for global food security “is directed toward agricultural resource development and management for smallholder farmers in the developing world”. The report added “We support a range of investments in agriculture including research, conservation-based production practices, water resource management and advocacy to promote the best ideas that will have the broadest impact on the most vulnerable and under-resourced producers”. The Foundation started with total assets of less than 50 million USD in 2000 but rose to over 250 million USD in 2015.

By all measures, Mr. Howard G. Buffett is a humanitarian per excellence, this is better understood when you read his famous book “40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World”. Part of the title for this article is burrowed from the title of Howard Buffett book. This is because the overall goal of World Food Prize Foundation is to provide food to the weak and hungry through various strategies. The lesson from this book is clearly stated, “Each of us has about 40 chances to accomplish our goals in life. This is a lesson Howard learned through his passion for farming. All farmers can expect to have about 40 growing seasons, giving them just 40 chances to improve on every harvest. This applies to all of us, however, because we all have about 40 productive years to do the best job we can, whatever our passions or goals may be”. This was certainly an inspiring statement that moves one into action (To be continued next week)

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Meeting American Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn: Finding Hope in a Hungry World

Meeting American Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn: Finding Hope in a Hungry World

My recent three weeks sojourn to United States of America took me to the Hall of Laureates of the World Food Prize Foundation at the Des Moines, Iowa State. It was a mission full of spectacular experience with amazing outcomes whose memory will ever remain refreshing in my life. After three hours driving from Lincoln, we arrived Des Moines at 12 noon, scheduled time for the lunch meeting with Ambassador Kenneth Quinn. After the formal introduction with amiable staff of the Foundation, I and my team members; Prof Chris Daudu and Dr Bala Shehu were ushered into the venue of the lunch when the Ambassador briskly appeared with an affable smile and warmth welcome. His voice was resonating and reminding me “I heard this voice” but couldn’t recall where and when. However, in the course of our discussion, it became clear that he was a keynote speaker of an event I participated a week earlier.  The event was the annual International Conference of American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), which was held in Spokane, Washington State. It was a forum for acknowledging innovations in design and technology and creation of opportunities for professional development in Agricultural and Biological Engineering – with a focus on the global economic, political and societal impacts facing agriculture. Over 1,700 Agricultural Engineers across the globe gathered at the Convention center of Spokane for the 4 days pack-full of activities (6:30 am to 9 pm). The choice of Ambassador Quinn as the keynote speaker was an apt and timely one in the face of global food insecurity - hunger and poverty; the twin sisters who are inseparable, wherever one is, the other is lurking behind scene. There couldn’t have been a better choice. Bravo 2017 ASABE Organizers!

Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, is the President of World Food Prize Foundation, which he assumed since January 1, 2000. This was immediately after his retirement from public service. He served the US State Department for 32 years as a career diplomat in the Foreign Service. The Ambassador joint the foundation as a result of inspiration by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug’s vision who founded the World Food Prize in 1986.  Ambassador Quinn built this legendary annual event and raised it for annual award of $250,000 into the "Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture.” The event holds every October 16^th in Des Moines, coinciding with World Food Day. The foundation has many soul touching activities; The World Food Prize Laureate Award Ceremony, Borlaug Dialogue international symposium and Global Youth Institute. These have grown in size and stature under the formidable leadership of Ambassador Quinn. Today, the Hall of Laureates of the Foundation occupies the historic Des Moines Public Library, a building designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification, the highest possible level of energy efficiency and resource conservation. This is to the credit of the Ambassador Quinn with an active support of the John Ruan family, who championed the campaign that successfully raised $29.8 million to restore and transform the old library into the World Food Prize Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Hall of Laureates.

Pleasantly, the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate was won by one of us, a famous Nigerian; Dr Akinwumi Adesina, immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Dr Adesina is the current President of the African Development Bank. He is being honored as “2017 World Food Prize Laureate for his leading role over the past decade”, he significantly expanded food production in Nigeria by introducing “ initiatives to exponentially increase the availability of credit for smallholder farmers across the African continent”.  As Minister, Adesina’s policy expanded Nigeria’s food production by 21 metric tons and the country attracted  $5.6 billion in private sector investment in agriculture. Adesina is the first Nigerian to win the prize and fourth in Africa to be so awarded since 1987 when M. S. Swaminathan, an Indian became the first to win the prize. In addition to Adesina’s giant achievement, it was also a heartwarming for us to notice the picture of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obansanjo hanging amid the pictures of Board members in the hall of this famous international Foundation. Nigeria, a giant of Africa may be facing several developmental challenges at home but has some sons and daughters whose positive contributions to global arena are dually recognized and part of this credit must go to our nation.

Hunger is a menace to individual, family and nation, it has to be first subdued or eradicated before facing other needs. To buttress this point, let me quote the statement of Dr Richard Berkland, the Vice President of Valmont International, Valley who said “we must fulfill physiological needs before we can truly address and make progress on higher – level needs”. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs best illustrates this statement, we have to fulfill physiological needs (hunger, thirsty, air), then move to safety (personal, financial security, health), move up to social needs, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic and finally to self – actualization. Therefore hunger is a big issue to humanity and it is rearing it’s ugly face especially in the developing countries. José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General presented this reality at the 2015 annual State of Food Insecurity in the

World (SOFI) as he was quoted saying “Hunger remains an everyday challenge for almost 795 million people worldwide, including 780 million in developing regions. Thus, hunger eradication should remain a key commitment of decision-makers at all levels”.  The World Food Prize Foundation was principally established to fight global hunger through according recognition to the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.

A visitor to this edifice, the World Food Prize Foundation must conspicuously recognize the collective breakthrough of four men of fame; Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, Mr. John Ruan and Mr. Howard G. Buffett, respectively. Each of these men had his name imprinted in gold in the strenuous global fight against hunger and extreme poverty. Although the fight is not won and may not be easily won for a long time come, but progress has been made. However, the progress in fighting hunger and the emerging challenges against food security are progressively moving at different rates; the later is moving at exponential rate while the former moves at arithmetic progression. To x-ray the struggle of these eminence men of distinction, one must start with the work of Norman Borlaug. Who was he?

Norman Ernest Borlaug was born on March 25, 1914 at a farmhouse near Cresco, Iowa State USA. He was a son to a farming family of Henry and Clara Borlaug. He had his primary and secondary education in Cresco and proceeded to the University of Minnesota where he studied forestry. After completing his Bachelor of Science degree in 1937, he worked for the U.S. Forestry Service at stations in Massachusetts and Idaho. He returned to the University of Minnesota where he studied plant pathology at both Master’s and doctorate degree levels in 1939 and 1942, respectively. He worked at the du Pont de Nemours Foundation as a researcher on industrial and agricultural bactericides, fungicides, and preservatives. In 1944, he was appointed as geneticist and plant pathologist, assigned the task of organizing and directing the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program in Mexico. The program was a collaborative effort between Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation. It involved complete scientific research in genetics, plant breeding, plant pathology, entomology, agronomy, soil science, and cereal technology. Within twenty years of his career, Dr. Borlaug was spectacularly successful in finding high-yielding short-straw, disease-resistant wheat. This was a historic milestone in the scientific career of Dr. Borlaug. Added to this scientific goal, was his practical humanitarian posture. Thus, he worked hard to put the new wheat strains into extensive production for the purpose of feeding the hungry people of the world. (To be continued next week) View the newspaper version

Recognizing the First Generation Inventors II

Recognizing the First Generation Inventors II

Sir Isaac Newton was a great physicist and astronomer, second to Archimedes among the first generation inventors. Sir Newton, an English mathematician was a great inventor who lived a glorious and fruitful life of 84 years  (between 4^th January 1643 to 20^th March 1727). There was a generation gap of over a thousand years, in fact total of 1,854 years between Newton’s generation and that of Archimedes. (There are many questions on what was happening to science and technology in those years) However, Newton and Archimedes had many things in common, they were both great men of science and technology whose contributions are still being put to use by us.

Sir Isaac Newton was born prematurely, tiny, weak and three months after his father’s death. He was not expected to survive, let alone became a great man of science. At the age of three, Newton was made to live with his maternal grandmother when his mother remarried. His early life, as an orphan left an indelible imprint on him and an acute sense of insecurity, which perhaps contributed to his ingenuity and determination for self-survival. Newton was described in his days as a "natural philosopher", widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), was first published in 1687, which laid the foundations of classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and he shared credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing the infinitesimal calculus.

X-raying the contribution of Newton to the scientific world is unquantifiable and beyond the mandate of this Column. It is however important to mention few of such giant contributions. Newton was the first to invent a practical reflecting telescope and developed a sophisticated theory of color based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into the colors of the visible spectrum. Newton's work on light was collected in his highly influential book Opticks, first published in 1704. He was also credited for the formulation of an empirical law of cooling in thermodynamics. He was similarly the first to theoretical calculate the speed of sound, and introduced the notion of a Newtonian fluid. In addition to his work on calculus, as a mathematician Newton contributed to the study of power series, generalized the binomial theorem to non-integer exponents, developed a method for approximating the roots of a function, and classified most of the cubic plane curves. Although his inventions and discoveries were made during the Scientific Revolution, Isaac Newton's universal principles of gravity found no parallels in science at the time. However, Newton, like all mortals he was never perfect, he was proven wrong on some of his key assumptions. In the 20th century, 100s of years after Newton death, Albert Einstein proved Newton's concept of the universe wrong, stating that space, distance and motion were not absolute but relative, and that the universe was more fantastic than Newton had ever conceived. Newton, himself accepted his fallacy as later in his life, when asked for an assessment of his achievements, he confessed, "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." That was a life of a great man, indeed, a humble man, Sir Isaac Newton of blessed memory.

Another first generation inventor deserving recognition is Benjamin Franklin. He was a famous American inventor during the colonial period. Benjamin Franklin was born on Sunday, January 17, 1706, in Boston, Massachusetts, which was then under British colony.  Benjamin Franklin's parents were Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. Josiah Franklin was born in Northamptonshire, England, in 1657, and came to America in 1682. He worked as a candle and soap maker in Boston. Abiah Folger was from Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA. Benjamin Franklin had a long list of inventions. The list included bifocals, the lightning rod, the glass harmonica, a library chair, swim fins, the Franklin stove, the catheter and a device for determining daylight saving time. Franklin developed swim fins to reduce what he called a "laborious and fatiguing operation" in swimming. As a boy and an avid swimmer, Frank developed early swim fins, which was composed of two oval wooden palettes with thumbholes. With one on each hand, he paddled through water, observed that the fins made him swim faster. Then in 1741, he invented stove called “Franklin stove”. It was an iron furnace used for heating homes with high heating efficiency and safety. The stove was able to raise temperature of the heating environment in a relatively short time for a longer duration and using less wood compared to direct burning of woods. It was then a groundbreaking invention during winter. Then, came yet another invention; “Bifocals”. Franklin’s vision deteriorated as he grew older. He loved to read and grew tired of switching between two pairs of glasses—one that helped him to see things close, another to see things farther away. So he cut the lenses from both pairs in half, and then put half of each lens in a single frame, inventing bifocals.

All the aforementioned inventions made by Franklin were considered less important than the one that made his name rings bell in many houses across the world, till date, more than 250 years after his demise. The discovery of “electricity” – a phenomenon that can’t be seen it but can be felt. Since electricity is a natural force that naturally exists, it couldn’t be invented. Benjamin Franklin was credited for its discovery.  But, was Benjamin Franklin really the first person to discover it? Historical records show he was not. Many years earlier, An English scientist William Gilbert established the science underlying the study of electricity and magnetism. Inspired by Gilbert's work, another Englishman, Sir Thomas Browne, made further investigations and wrote books about his findings. Gilbert and Browne are credited with being the first scientists to use the term "electricity." However, Franklin was the first to make a cutting-edge discovering of electricity that opened window for better understanding and utilization of this God given energy – electricity. Thus, he is considered as a “founding father” of electricity. Franklin conducted a famous kite and a silk ribbon in a thunderstorm experiment in 1752, exactly 265 years ago that created foundation for clear discovery and understanding of electricity. The Franklin’s experiment was a watershed moment in mankind's question to channel a force of nature once thought to be the wrath of God to humanity. Hitherto, Electricity was not a well-understood phenomenon, so Franklin's discovery proved to be fairly foundational. Franklin’s frantic effort in discovering electricity made him received an electric shock that nearly burns him. That early brush with the dangers of electricity left an impression on him. He was quoted describing the sensation as "a universal blow throughout my whole body from head to foot, which seemed within as well as without; after which the first thing I took notice of was a violent quick shaking of my body." However, it didn't scare him away. Instead, it made him more curious, put in more effort until he finally laid solid foundation for a better discovery of electricity. Franklin contributed distinctively in the “science of electricity” from the design of first battery to establishment of some common nomenclature in the study of electricity. It's thanks to Franklin effort, for instance, that electric charges are referred to positive and negative charges. Before him, they were known as "vitreous" and "resinous" charges. (To be continued next week)

 

 

 

Recognizing the First Generation Inventors

Recognizing the First Generation Inventors

Let me start with utopian scenario; imagine a land or situation whereby all your wishes are met effortless courtesy of technological facilities, available and accessible to you. Imagine a driverless car, you enter with your wish of travelling to a choice destination in your mind, the car simply drives you and stop at exact point you had in your mind without making any effort. On the other hand, let us imagine another scenario, opposite to first one; the present technological facilities making our lives easier and happier cease to function. No telephone to speak with others few kilometers away from us, no plane to crisscross the continents, no car to travel long distances, no weapon of mass destruction, and many other things making our lives comfortable, enjoyable and sometimes fearful. With these two scenarios, one cannot but doff his hat for the inventors of the various technologies worldwide for their ingenuity and creativity.    What is the history of invention and what was the first invention done by mankind? A difficult question to precisely answer as invention predated the Paleolithic period. The inventions then, before Stone Age were those of fire control, cooking, fabrication of stone and bone tools, weaving, cave painting and few others. These inventions were found through evidences recorded by archaeologists in various historical places. Then, came to Neolithic period, more inventions were witnessed with relative superiority and complexity over inventions made in earlier years. Such period witnessed the invention of wheel, ship for sailing, needle; the earliest needles were invented in 4400 BC in Naqada Egypt as reported by Wikipedia. Those needles were made of bone and wood different from the modern ones manufactured from high carbon steel wire.

Then, came the first millenniums BC, which witnessed advancement of inventions; lenses, watermill and cranes in Ancient Greece, mirror, glass blowing and warship in Lebanon, gears, paper and blast furnace in Ancient China.  The Ancient engineers in the Roman Empire invented segmental arch dam, bridge and some hydraulic structures for water flows and controls. These and many similar inventions were made between 8th and first century BC.  In that Era of the first millenniums; 8^th to 1^st century BC, there were many inventors scattered globally but the most renown and famous was Archimedes. He was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. He was and is still regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. He was generally considered as the greatest mathematician of all time. Archimedes was genius enough to anticipate the upcoming of modern calculus and algebra. This, he demonstrated by applying the concept of infinitesimals and the method of exhaustion to derive and rigorously prove a range of geometrical theorems such as area and circumference of a circle, the surface area and volume of a sphere, and the area under a parabola. Among other important things he developed that is still being applied by many of us is “pi”, a constant parameter with a value of 22 over 7. This magic “pi” is used for computations of many trigonometric, cycles and volumes of structures. He also developed the Archimedes screw for lifting up water from mines or wells. The famous exclamation of 'Eureka!' was credited to this ancient Greek scholar Archimedes. He was reportedly proclaimed "Eureka! Eureka!" (Twice) after he had stepped into a bath and noticed that the water level rose, equivalent to the volume of water displaced by part of his submerged body. He then intuitively understood that the volume of irregular objects could be measured with relative precision, a hitherto an intractable problem to human race. He was said to have been so eager to share his discovery with public that he leapt out of his bathtub and ran through the streets of Syracuse naked. This was how the word “Eureka” became a so famous that every scientist worth his/her salt knows it. Another important discovery made by Archimedes was his famous principle code named “Archimedes’ principle”. It states that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, fully or partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces and acts in the upward direction at the center of mass of the displaced fluid. This means that an object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. This is a fundamental law of physics applicable in fluid mechanics, whose practical application led to the design of ships, complicated hydraulic structures and similar practical applications very useful to mankind. Archimedes lived for 75 years between the year 287 BC and 212 BC. His life was full of useful discoveries that are being used to date. He was killed in 212 BC during the siege of Syracuse by a Roman soldier despite orders that he should not be harmed. Cicero, one of the Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists, visited Archimedes tomb decorated it with a sphere and a cylinder as symbols of his mathematical discoveries. This was done to fulfill the Archimedes request before his death.

Another notable inventor of the first millenniums BC was Cai Lun. He was a Chinese inventor of paper. He was a Chinese political administrator credited with inventing modern paper. His invention included the use of raw materials such as bark, hemp, silk and fishing net. The sheets of fibre were suspended in water before removing for drying. In ancient times writings and inscriptions were generally made on tablets of bamboo or on pieces of silk. But silk being costly and bamboo heavy, they were not convenient to use. Tshai Lun [Cai Lun] then initiated the idea of making paper from the bark of trees, remnants of hemp, rags of cloth, and fishing nets. He submitted the process to the then Chinese emperor “Yuan-Hsing” and received commendation for his noble invention. That invention revolutionized the art of writing and record keeping, which up to date is very useful to mankind. This is why there are more records of inventions in the first millennium AD after that discovery as many people were able to record the inventions in writing.

The first millenniums AD marked the boom of discoveries as many groundbreaking inventions were witnessed. From 1000 AD to date, there were 100s of notable inventors whose impacts have made significant positive changes to human race. Among these important and noble men was Leonardo Da Vinci, an Italian artist, scientist and polymath. Da Vinci invented a sundry machines and structures. These included prototype parachutes, tanks, flying machines and single-span bridges. He was also credited with the inventions of optical lens, grinder and various hydraulic machines that were fully adopted and used by various communities globally. Vinci was a famous Italian Renaissance polymath whose areas of interests cut-across invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Wikipedia reported that many historians and scholars regard Vinci as the prime exemplar of the "Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man", an individual of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of Vinci interests were without precedent in recorded history, and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself as mysterious and remote”. That famous man lived his life between the year 1452 and 1519 AD.

The next was Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was another famous inventor who lived his life between the year 1642 and 1726 AD. To date, the humanity uses the invention of this great achiever. He was an English scientist. Newton invented the reflecting telescope. This single invention greatly improved the capacity of telescopes and reduced optical distortion. (To be continued next week)