
The scientists who starved to death surrounded by food - classichasclass
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/08/the-scientists-who-starved-to-death.html
======
itissid
Agriculture Scientists are really heroes of the 20th century.

1\. In statistics max likelihood method was developed and used to great effect
and continues to this day, was developed by Fisher[1]

2\. Norman Borlaug saved India and Pakistan from famine in the midst of
literally a war that is worthy of a movie[2].

[1]
[https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.ss/1030037906](https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.ss/1030037906)
[2] [https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/green-
giant-6389547](https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/green-giant-6389547)

~~~
dmix
Ouch Borlaug saves millions from starvation and revolutionizes agricultural
and no one knows his name. Oh well, he knew what he accomplished, the other
scientists seem to hold him in high regard, and I'm sure he was able to live
comfortably.

~~~
j7ake
Actually he saved over a billion lives. He won the Nobel Peace Prize, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Not exactly a
nobody.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug)

------
DoreenMichele
_He taught himself 15 languages so that he could speak with native farmers._

For me, this line sums up the dedication of the founder of this seed bank. He
traveled extensively and worked tirelessly.

It bothers me that this whole thing is news to me.

~~~
Aeolun
To some extend. In a way, it’s really heartening that there’s enough of these
people that I can keep reading about new ones over the course of my life.

~~~
dolzenko
I think the OP point is about e.g. you and me most likely knowing about Kim
Kardashian though never having an intention to so to speak :D

------
pvaldes
Can't fall to mention that biological collections are routinely treated and
coated with poisons to deter rodents and insects, so, even if they come from
edible species, aren't edible in itself.

This means that in a post-apocaliptic scenery you coulnd't just go to a museum
and eat safely a butterfly collection or an herbarium, not matter how hungry
you are. Would be also really silly to save uncoated valuable seeds in the
fortress of solitude when the first human finding it would need to consume the
seeds just to stay alive and be able to return home with the seeds. If not
done yet, we should probably store an alternative source of food and fat in
the same place to be eaten by the future scouts before allowing them to enter
in the real collection.

------
Pinktree
wow... this is one of the saddest and beautiful stories that i'll ever read
why don't they talk about stuff like that on schools? history would be a lot
more interesting, to discuss about facts like that and just evolve... i'm
really new(18) and when i see People talking s __t to my generation i can 't
help but keep quiet and accept it is true... i feel like stuff need to
change... the world has a lot of students but a tiny amount of learners

~~~
sizzle
Wish more people your age were as curious and interested to learn about the
past, seems like a rare quality to have in today's age of instant
gratification. Keep the curiosity alive friend!

------
ggm
The next time somebody refutes the Churchill "then why are we fighting" quote
(he didn't say it, according to Snopes) we now have this story to point to.
Churchill's comments before the war were about the arts, but this one about
the sciences fits in the same niche: If you believed in the role of the seed
bank/collection, eating it was the last thing on your mind.

~~~
skrebbel
A bit off topic, I find it a bit ironic that you bring up Churchill in a
discussion about famine, given that he was directly responsible for the
starvation of millions of Indians.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943)

I keep being surprised how true it is that the victors get to write the
history books. Churchill killed a third as many people as Hitler did but
people generally seem to be OK with that.

~~~
NeedMoreTea
Churchill directly responsible?

1\. The UK had a coalition government and a war cabinet of 9 not a
dictatorship by Churchill, so "directly responsible" is pure hyperbole.

2\. Burma fell in 42 from which point Bengal lost previous regular rice
imports and was now on the front line with the Japanese.

3\. Many of the Indian states under their respective Maharajas applied trade
restrictions with Bengal after the fall of Burma, through 42 starting with
Punjab. That significantly heightened food shortages and profiteering. It was
the inability to internally import rice that was perhaps the largest single
factor.

4\. Bengal was inundated with half a million refugees fleeing Burma.

5\. At that point in the war there was little could be done to prevent
Japanese attacks in the Bay of Bengal. The War Cabinet did indeed decline
Mountbatten's requests for shipping food due to expected losses.

6\. A series of natural disasters in the region, including extensive crop
disease and a cyclone that killed 15,000 and spread the disease spores widely.

Churchill personally could have prevented all that, at the height of the war?

Now had you pointed at Bengal's governor, who made some questionable decisions
during the crisis, I think you'd have had more of a case.

~~~
danieka
Thank you for taking the time to respond in such detail. Also, your username
checks out.

------
PhasmaFelis
The story of Vavilov and his disciples is the subject of the song "When the
War Came" by the Decemberists, which is haunting enough even if you don't know
the story.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJHOiQ2uniU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJHOiQ2uniU)

~~~
ratacat
Oooh thanks for this! That's awesome

------
maxxxxx
It's a common theme in dystopian stories that in times of crisis people
quickly use up the resources they will need for survival when things get
better. I guess they should be viewed as heroes.

~~~
Pinktree
they're definetely heroes to me now... you're right!

------
hi41
I am deeply moved by the heroism of these scientists. This goes way beyond
ethics to one's profession.

------
forrestthewoods
There's an awesome 99% Invisible podcast on this.

[https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-
vault/](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-vault/)

------
Insanity
I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like. How do you resist such
temptation is beyond me.

~~~
ellyagg
At least for some people, urgent hunger passes after a few days. My brother
has done a few full fasts and after a week he didn't feel hungry anymore.
YMMV.

There was another incident, a case study in the early 70s, where a very obese
man went on a full fast under researcher supervision and lost all his excess
weight in a year or so.

[https://pmj.bmj.com/content/postgradmedj/49/569/203.full.pdf](https://pmj.bmj.com/content/postgradmedj/49/569/203.full.pdf)

~~~
gambiting
There's plenty of writen testimonies from former gulag prisoners and plenty of
them say that hunger subsides after few days of not eating. You just become
incredibly lethargic, but as long as you are given water, you won't actually
die for weeks - people were thrown in isolation cells for weeks without food
and have survived.

~~~
code_duck
Hunger is definitely worst when you are in the habit of of eating frequently.
I’ve been having serious problems with eating for years and especially this
year, and I’m amazed at how I can still function while eating so little.
Eventually you run out of certain critical nutrients, though. I almost died
from lack of potassium last month, a possibility that had never occurred to
me.

------
kriro
I was searching for pictures of the scientists and found this medium series
that has them, in case anyone else is thinking about using them as
inspirational pictures for their office:

[https://medium.com/thecodex/martyrs-for-botany-
part-2-48bce2...](https://medium.com/thecodex/martyrs-for-botany-
part-2-48bce29eedf7)

------
0xcafecafe
> After over a year-and-a-half of eating frozen cabbage and moldy flour,
> Nikolai Vavilov—the man who taught us about agricultural diversity and plant
> origins, and who spent fifty years of his life trying to end famine— died of
> starvation.

The guy who basically set up the seed vault was killed by his own people he
was trying to help. Very depressing.

~~~
myth_drannon
And on the other side was a guy(Lysenko) who sent him to Gulag and his
theories caused the death of millions. The guy with better social-sales skills
can sell his false theories versus the smart guy who mumbles in the corner. I
notice it a lot in the data science community.

~~~
mindentropy
I notice it a lot in the corporates. If you have to climb the ladder or get a
good offer you have to be buddy of another questionable character or have
brilliant social skills. Engineering skills be damned. When they are about to
be found out it is either too late or they will jump somewhere else.

------
FabHK
Tragic and edifying story, only marred in my opinion by the "amusing" moniker
hovering above it.

------
8bitsrule
This Nat.Geo. story from 2011 ('Food Ark') describes Vavilov, and mentions
that there were 'some 1,400 seed banks around the world' at that time.
[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2011/07/food-
ark...](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2011/07/food-ark/)

Looks like the UK's 'Millenium Seed Bank' is the world's largest wild-plant
repository.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Seed_Bank_Partnersh...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Seed_Bank_Partnership)

------
new_guy
Honestly, I can't imagine I would have done the same. They were true heroes.

~~~
unit91
Why not? Learn what it is to be courageous and loving, and decide now that if
the situation arises you will do it.

------
ai_ja_nai
Poor guys; that's really all I can say now.

------
hi41
I don't think I can do what the scientists did. I can't skip even a single
meal. What could have driven there men to do this? Is it the integrity they
gained by practicing their religion? Or is it their commitment to humanity's
welfare?

------
jonnycomputer
All hail; the epitome of what it to be human.

------
snorrah
Couldn’t read the story because of awful redirecting ads to fake YouTube and
amazon sites telling me I’d won something.

~~~
ai_ja_nai
Get yourself uBlock Origin

~~~
not_kurt_godel
Also Privacy Badger

