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Yuan Longping, an agronomist who developed strains of high-yield rice that made significant progress against famine, died in a hospital on May 22 at age 90. People’s Daily, a state-run media outlet in China, reports that Yuan was hospitalized after a fall in March and ultimately succumbed to multiple organ failure.
Born in Beijing in 1930, Yuan’s love of learning was fostered at an early age by his parents, who were both teachers, according to The New York Times. Although various political tensions and conflicts caused his family to move around, his education was a constant. He attended Southwest Agricultural College in Chongqing, China, starting in 1949, just as Communist rule began in China. Yuan was interested in agricultural genetics, which was considered highly controversial at the time, due to concerns of how the environment would be affected by altered plants. After graduation, he ...
