Top Chinese Scientist Yuan Longping Dies
Yuan Longping, a Chinese scientist who developed higher-yield rice varieties, died Saturday at a hospital in the southern city of Changsha, the Xinhua News agency reported. He was 91.
Yuan spent his life researching rice. In the 1970s, Yuan developed a hybrid strain of rice that recorded an annual yield 20 percent higher than existing varieties.
Yuan and his team worked with other countries to address issues of food security as well as malnutrition.
In his later years, Yuan continued doing research. In 2017, working with a Hunan agricultural school, he helped create a strain of low-cadmium indica rice for areas suffering from heavy metal pollution, reducing the amount of cadmium in rice by more than 90 percent.
Daily Monitor
Saturday May 22 2021
Yuan Longping died in a hospital in Changsha after he had suffered from an unspecified illness. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY
Summary
Yuan Longping died in a hospital in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, Xinhua said. It said he had suffered from an unspecified illness.
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An agronomist hailed as a Chinese national hero for helping develop hybrid rice and easing hunger for millions worldwide died on Saturday at the age of 90, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Yuan Longping, known in China as the father of hybrid rice , is credited with cultivating the world s first high-yield hybrid rice strain in 1973.
China s Yuan Longping dies; rice research helped feed world
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HUIZHONG WU, Associated Press
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In this Oct. 15, 2017 photo, Yuan Longping, center, stands in a field of hybrid rice in Handan in northern China s Hebei Province. Yuan, a scientist who developed higher-yield varieties of rice that helped feed people around the world, died Saturday May 22, 2021, at a hospital in the city of Changsha, Xinhua News agency reported. (Chinatopix via AP)AP
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) Yuan Longping, a Chinese scientist who developed higher-yield rice varieties that helped feed people around the world, died Saturday at a hospital in the southern city of Changsha, the Xinhua News agency reported. He was 91.