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George Washington Carver
Born Jan 1 1860 - Died Jan 5 1943
Cosmetic and Process of Producing the Same; Paint and Stain and Process of
Producing the Same Peanut Products
Patent Number(s) 1,522,176; 1,541,478
Inducted 1990
Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver developedcrop-rotation
methods for conserving nutrients in soil and discovered hundreds of new uses
for crops such as the peanut, which created new markets for farmers,
especially in the South.
Invention Impact
At Tuskegee, Carver developed his crop rotation method, which alternated
nitrate producing legumes-such as peanuts and peas-with cotton, which
depletes soil of its nutrients. Following Carver's lead, southern farmers
soon began planting peanuts one year and cotton the next. While many of the
peanuts were used to feed livestock, large surpluses quickly developed.
Carver then developed 325 different uses for the extra peanuts-from cooking
oil to printers ink. When he discovered that the sweet potato and the pecan
also enriched depleted soils, Carver found almost 20 uses for these crops,
including synthetic rubber and material for paving highways.
Inventor Bio
Born of slave parents in Diamond Grove, Missouri, Carver was rescued from
Confederate kidnappers as an infant. He began his education in Newton County
in southwest Missouri, where he worked as a farm hand and studied in a
one-room schoolhouse. He went on to excel at Minneapolis High School in
Kansas. Though denied admission to Highland University because of his race,
Carver gained acceptance to Simpson
College in Indianola, Iowa, in 1887.
Intent on a science career, he transferred to Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) in
1891 and gained a B.S. in 1894 and an M.S. in agriculture in 1897. Later that
year Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, convinced
Carver to come south and serve as the school's director of agriculture. Upon
his death, Carver contributed his life savings to establish a research
institute at Tuskegee. His birthplace was declared a national monument in
1953.
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