George Shull
Self-fertilized Corn
Today in 1942, newspapers announced the retirement of George Shull.
An Ohio farm kid, Shull was the noted botanist who taught at Princeton University for 27 years.
His work resulted in a $150M increase in the value of US corn as a result of his crossing pure line varieties with self-fertilized corn. Shull's hybrid yielded 10 to 40 percent more than ordinary corn.
Shull never made a penny from his creation.
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