Henry Beachell

Henry Monroe "Hank" Beachell (September 21, 1906 – December 13, 2006) 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.

Henry Beachell
Born(1906-09-21)September 21, 1906
Waverly, Nebraska, U.S.
DiedDecember 13, 2006(2006-12-13) (aged 100)
Pearland, Texas, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln (B.S. 1930)
Kansas State University (M.S. 1933)
AwardsWorld Food Prize[1]
Japan Prize[2]
Scientific career
FieldsPlant breeding
ThesisThe inheritance of resistance to leaf rust and bunt, and of other characters in the wheat cross, Tenmarq X Minturki (1933)
Academic advisorsJohn H. Parker

Born in Waverly, Nebraska, Beachell and his family moved to a corn and wheat farm in western Nebraska. In 1930 he earned a bachelor's degegree in agronomy from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he was a member of the FarmHouse fraternity.[3] After obtaining a Master's degree at Kansas State University, Beachell worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Texas. There, he created nine rice varieties, which eventually accounted for more than 90 percent of the U.S. long-grain rice production. He went to International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in 1963 after his retirement from the DOA. He created a high-yielding rice variety IR8 in 1964, based on the previous work by Peter Jennings (no relations to the US journalists). IR8 was officially released by IRRI in 1966.[4] It dramatically increased the yields of Asian rice from 1 or 2 ton per hectare to 4 or 5 tons per hectare.[1] It played a significant part in the Green Revolution.

Beachell has been called the most important person in rice improvement in the world.[5] As farmers planted higher yielding rice, nutrition improved in many Asian countries, and farmers increased their incomes. Beachell was awarded a honorary doctorate from the University of Nebraska in 1972.[6] Beachell has received many international awards, including the 1987 Japan Prize[2] and 1996 World Food Prize.[1] As a centenarian, Beachell consulted with RiceTec, the only commercial hybrid rice-breeding program in the U.S, up until his death.

References
  1. World Food Prize Foundation 1996 Laureate: Beachell and Khush
  2. Laureates of the Japan Prize. japanprize.jp
  3. FarmHouse International Fraternity: List of Master Builders and accomplishments Archived 2013-02-09 at the Wayback Machine. Farmhouse.org. Retrieved on 2016-05-09.
  4. The Breeding History of IR8
  5. Payne, Bill; Ryan, John (January 2010). "Henry M. "Hank" Beachell —Rice for the World". The International Dimension of the American Society of Agronomy: Past and Future. ACSESS publications. p. 16. doi:10.2134/2010.internationaldimension.profile1. ISBN 978-0-89118-193-4. ISSN 2165-9842.
  6. "Dr. Henry Monroe "Hank" Beachell Obituary (2006) Lincoln Journal Star".
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