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Gurdev Khush | |
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| Born | 22 August 1935 |
| Education | B.Sc., Punjab Agricultural University (1955) Ph.D., University of California, Davis (1960) |
| Occupation | Agronomist and geneticist |
Gurdev Singh Khush (born August 22, 1935) is an Agronomist and Geneticist who, along with mentor Henry Beachell, received the 1996 World Food Prize for his achievements in enlarging and improving the global supply of rice during a time of exponential population growth. [1]
He graduated with a B.Sc. from Punjab Agricultural University in 1955 and Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) in 1960.
After serving as a faculty member of the University of California (UC) for seven years studying the tomato genome, he joined the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines as Plant Breeder. He was appointed a Head of the Plant Breeding Department in 1972 where, in pursuit of ever-improved rice varieties to nourish the growing developing world and support its agricultural economies, he spent over twenty years directing and participating in genetic research and breeding. [2] During that time he played a key role in the development of more than 300 innovative rice strains such as Semi-dwarf IR36. [3] World rice production increased from 257 million tons in 1966 to 626 million tons in 2006. [2]
He retired from IRRI in February 2002 as Principal Plant Breeder and Head of Division of Plant Breeding Genetics and Biochemistry [2] and returned to UC Davis as adjunct professor. [4] He also served on the Life Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2010.
Khush has earned many awards, including the Borlaug Award (1977), the Japan Prize (1987), the World Food Prize (1996), Padma Shri (2000) [5] and the Wolf Prize in Agriculture (2000). [6] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1995 [7] and by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences as their foreign fellow in 1991. [8]
Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa or less commonly Oryza glaberrima. The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera Zizania and Porteresia, both wild and domesticated, although the term may also be used for primitive or uncultivated varieties of Oryza.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is an international agricultural research and training organization with its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, in the Philippines, and offices in seventeen countries. IRRI is known for its work in developing rice varieties that contributed to the Green Revolution in the 1960s which preempted the famine in Asia.
Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is an Indian agronomist, agricultural scientist, plant geneticist, administrator and humanitarian. Swaminathan is a global leader of the green revolution. He has been called the main architect of the green revolution in India for his leadership and role in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice. Swaminathan's collaborative scientific efforts with Norman Borlaug, spearheading a mass movement with farmers and other scientists and backed by public policies, saved India and Pakistan from certain famine-like conditions in the 1960s. His leadership as Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines was instrumental in his being awarded the first World Food Prize in 1987, recognized as the Nobel or the highest honours in the field of agriculture. United Nations Environment Programme has called him 'the Father of Economic Ecology'.
Henry Monroe "Hank" Beachell was an American plant breeder. His research led to the development of hybrid rice cultivars that saved millions of people around the world from starvation.
Semi-dwarf IR36 is a hybrid rice variety developed by Gurdev Khush.
Baldev Singh Dhillon is an internationally renowned agricultural scientist and had been the vice chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University from 2011 to 2021 in India.
Pamela C. Ronald is an American plant pathologist and geneticist. She is a professor in the Genome Center and the Department of Plant Pathology, and founding director of the Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy (IFAL), at the University of California, Davis. She also serves as Key Scientist at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, California. In 2018 she served as a visiting professor at Stanford University in the Center on Food Security and the Environment.
The Borlaug Award is an award recognition conferred by a fertilizer company, Coromandel International, for outstanding Indian scientists for their research and contributions in the field of agriculture and environment. The award was created in 1972 and named in honour of Nobel Laureate Norman E. Borlaug. It carries a cash prize of Rs 500,000, a gold medal, and a citation.
Julia Bailey-Serres is professor of genetics, director of the Center for Plant Cell Biology, and a member of the Institute for Integrative Genome Biology at the University of California, Riverside. Her accomplishments include the pioneering of methods for profiling the "translatomes" of discrete cell-types of plants and identification of a homeostatic sensor of oxygen deprivation in plants.
Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram (1943–2021) was an Indian-born Mexican scientist and winner of the 2014 World Food Prize. He was awarded this prize for his scientific research in developing 480 wheat varieties that have been released in 51 countries. This innovation has led to an increase in world wheat production – by more than 200 million tons – building upon the successes of the Green Revolution. The Government of India awarded him highest civilian awards Padma Shri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2022).
Ebrahimali Abubacker Siddiq is an Indian agricultural scientist, whose research in genetics and plant breeding is reported to have assisted in the development of various high-yielding rice varieties such as dwarf basmati and hybrid rice. The government of India honoured Siddiq in 2011 with the fourth-highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
Navalpakkam Parthasarthy, (1900–1993) was an Indian geneticist, executive secretary of International Rice Commission and Rice Advisor to the governments of Liberia and Thailand. The Government of India honoured him in 1958, with the award of Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his services to the nation.
Mangina Venkateswara Rao was an Indian agricultural scientist, plant breeder, geneticist and the chairman of the Agri Biotech Foundation. He was a former Vice Chancellor of the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University and a former Deputy Director of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Rao, a recipient of the Norman Borlaug Award, was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri, by the Government of India, in 1999.
Sant Singh Virmani is a US-based Indian plant breeder, rice scientist and a former Principal Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). He served IRRI from 1979 to 2005 and retired from its service as the deputy head of the Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biochemistry Division.
Dilbagh Singh Athwal was an Indian-American geneticist, plant breeder and agriculturist, known to have conducted pioneering research in plant breeding. He was a professor and the Head of the Department of Plant Breeding at Punjab Agricultural University and an associate of Norman Borlaug, the renowned biologist and Nobel Laureate, with whom he has collaborated for the introduction of high-yielding dwarf varieties of wheat.
Virender Lal Chopra was an Indian biotechnologist, geneticist, agriculturalist and a director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), known to have contributed to the development of wheat production in India. He was the chancellor of Central University of Kerala, a Chancellor of the Central Agricultural University, Imphal and a member of the Planning Commission of India. An elected fellow of several science academies such as Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, European Academy of Sciences and Arts and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), he was a recipient of a number of honors including Borlaug Award, FAO World Food Day Award and Om Prakash Bhasin Award. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1985, for his contributions to agricultural science.
Khem Singh Gill was an Indian academic, geneticist, plant breeder and Vice-Chancellor of the Punjab Agricultural University. He was known for his contributions to the Green Revolution in India. Instrumental for breeding new strains of wheat, linseed, and sesame, he was the author of the book Research on wheat and triticale in the Punjab along with several additional articles on the subject. He was also the vice-president of The Kalgidhar Trust and The Kalgidhar Society, Baru Sahib, which is one of the largest Sikh charities. A Sant Teja Singh Chair Professor in Sikhism of the Eternal Global University and a founding fellow of The World Academy of Sciences, he was a recipient of Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Memorial Prize, Team Research Award of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), FICCI Award, ICAR Golden Jubilee Award and Silver Jubilee Award of the Indian Society of Oilseeds Research. In 1992, the Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan for his contributions to science.
Sardara Singh Johl is an Indian agriculture economist, writer, politician and the chancellor of the Central University of Punjab. A former National Professor of Agricultural Economics of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, he served as the vice chancellor of the Punjabi University and Punjab Agricultural University during different tenures and chaired the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices set up by the Government of India. He is a former director of the Central Board of Governors of the Reserve Bank of India and a former consultant to international bodies such as Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 2004, for his contributions to Agriculture and agriculture education.
IR8 is a high-yielding semi-dwarf rice variety developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the early 1960s. It was the work by Peter Jennings and Henry Beachell. In November 1966, IR8 was introduced in the Philippines and India. Promoters such as the IRRI and farmer benefactors of IR8 have called it 'miracle rice', and celebrate it for fighting famine. IR8 dramatically increased the yields of Asian rice from 1 or 2 ton per hectare to 4 or 5 tons per hectare. It played a significant part in the Green Revolution.
Ronnie Coffman is an American plant scientist and professor. He is director of numerous research projects dedicated to international agriculture, food security and gender equity in agriculture. He received the World Agriculture Prize in 2013. He was named a 2019 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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