ORVILLE VOGEL
Orville Vogel was born May 19, 1907 on a farm near Pilger, Neb., to William and Emella Paige Vogel. He graduated from Pilger High School in 1925, from Yankton College in 1927 and received a bachelor's in agriculture in 1929 and a masters' in 1931, both from the University of Nebraska. He received his doctorate in agronomy from Washington State College, now Washington State Universty, in 1939.

Vogel was a U.S. Department of Agriculture wheat breeder stationed at WSU for 42 years. There he led the team that developed the Western Hemisphere's first commercially successful semi-dwarf wheat varieties, which were released to farmers in 1961.

Norman Borlaug, who received the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for fathering the so-called Green Revolution, has publicly acknowledged Vogel's contributions to his own work.

Yet, Borlaug and other world leaders in agricultural research have said Vogel's greatest contribution to society may not have been the wheats he bred, but the miniature equipment he invented and built as a hobby to automate planting and harvesting of research plots.

Virgil A. Johnson, professor emeritus, University of Nebraska, recently said Vogel's work has been so broad-reaching that it's impact can no longer be measured. "The contribution as reflected by increased wheat yields and improved production practices in wheat-producing countries already is enormous and will continue into the future."

Among the many honors that Vogel received were: a 1990 John Scott Award; the 1975 National Medal of Science; Washington State's first Medal of Merit, in 1987; induction to the Agricultural Research Service's Science Hall of Fame, in 1987; the Crop Science Award of the American Society of Agronomy, in 1969.