System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Luther Burbank
1849 - 1926
Luther Burbank, plant breeder and geneticist, died April 11, 1926. He was 77.
Burbank was born March 7, 1849 in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Receiving only a high school education, he went on to become one of the foremost plant breeders in the world.
When he was 21, Burbank bought a 17-acre piece of property near Lunenberg, Massachusetts. There he began his life-long career in plant breeding. He developed a hybrid potato, aptly named the Burbank Potato. With money from the sale of the rights to the potato, he moved to Santa Rosa, California where he established his breeding operation, which included a nursery, greenhouse and experimental farm.
Heavily influenced by Charles Darwin, Burbank was ahead of his time in plant breeding and genetics. His research pre-dated the renowned geneticist Gregor Mendel who didn't publish his works until 1901.
At the end of his life, Burbank had grown more than 800 new plant varieties, including 113 types of plums and prunes; 10 commercial types of berries; and 50 varieties of lilies.
His published works include Luther Burbank, His Methods and Discoveries and Their Practical Applications (1914-15), How Plants Are Trained to Work for Man (1921), and his posthumous autobiography, Harvest of the Years, published in 1927.
Burbank died in Santa Rosa, California on April 11, 1926.
