INDUSTRY
Glenn Burton
A leader of the "Green Revolution" by James Hataway You may never have heard the name Glenn Burton before, but you’ve almost certainly seen his handiwork.
Glenn Burton examines grass cultivars being grown on the UGA-Tifton campus.
In a career spanning more than six decades, most of which was spent as a professor at the University of Georgia’s Tifton campus, Burton established himself as one of the world’s most prolific agricultural scientists, and you don’t have to search long to find one of his creations.
UAC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2019
From championship golf courses and international venues like the Olympics and the World Cup to the turf that adorns the playing surface in the University of Georgia’s Sanford Stadium, Burton created new grass varieties that have become the international standard for excellence in the sporting world.
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But the scientific genius that allowed Burton to create lush green fairways on golf courses and turf capable of withstanding punishment on the gridiron also enabled him to develop new crop varieties that fed millions of hungry people during a time when the world was struggling to produce enough food for a rapidly growing population.
He saved countless lives during the “Green Revolution” of the 1960s, and Burton’s many contributions continue to inspire scientists working to create a more dependable food supply today. “Helping feed the hungry of the world is my greatest accomplishment,” Burton is quoted as saying. “It was important to me because I saw those hungry people, and I was able to help them.” In 1982, Burton was awarded a National Medal of Science by President Ronald Reagan “for outstanding contributions to the biological sciences that have helped to feed the hungry, protect and beautify the environment and provide recreation for millions.”
Feeding the hungry Burton’s story began, appropriately enough, on his family’s farm in Clatonia, Nebraska. He was born Glenn Willard Burton in 1910, the only child of Joseph and Nellie Burton, and he worked the land alongside his parents using horse-drawn equipment. He attended a one-room country school through the eighth grade before graduating from high school in 1927. Burton received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska in 1932 and moved to Rutgers University, where he received his master’s and doctoral degrees in 1933 and 1936, respectively. Burton and his wife, Helen, moved to Georgia following his graduation, where he would spend the remainder of his career on the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Tifton campus developing new and innovative plant varieties for agriculture and recreation. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a person or known a person that was more dedicated to research than he was,” said Wayne Hanna, a professor of
