Background
Yuan was born on September 7, 1930 in Beijing into poverty-stricken circumstances.
隆平 袁
Yuan was born on September 7, 1930 in Beijing into poverty-stricken circumstances.
Yuan graduated from the Southwest Agriculture Institute in 1953. Throughout the early part of his career, he served on the faculty of an agricultural school in Anjiang, Hunan Province.
Since the 1960s, Yuan has dedicated his life to the research and development of hybrid rice. The endeavor began when China suffered famine and mass deaths during a tumultuous period of the twentieth century. In 1973, with a team of researchers, Yuan created a rice species that generated 20 percent more per unit than other types of rice species.
In 1974, Yuan developed an advanced process for creating rice that was both non-glutinous and long-grained. As a result of this scientific breakthrough, the People’s Republic of China became the world’s leader in rice production and Yuan earned his ‘father of hybrid rice’ nickname. In 1979, the process was introduced to the United States. This was the first time that intellectual property rights had been transferred from China to the United States. Today, it is estimated that approximately 50 percent of rice fields in China grow Yuan’s hybrid species. In particular, his contributions have diminished China’s reliance on food imports and assisted areas of the world that are stricken by famine and poverty.
Yuan has spent much of his life traveling abroad to research, advise, and guide scientists working on various components of his hybrid rice cultivation process. In the 1980s and 1990s, Yuan directed a lengthy series of seminars in concert with the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center. The series extended to over 15 countries and involved numerous participants. By working with a coalition of esteemed scientists, the amount of hybrid rice production and acres of land dedicated to cultivating hybrid rice grew significantly in India and Vietnam in the late 1990s.
Yuan married his student Deng Zhe in 1964, they have two children, Yuan Ding'an and Yuan Dingjiang.