207,380 profiles ranked

George Washington Carver

African American botanist and inventor (1864-1943) · United States · Scientists · Died at 79

George Washington Carver is read about 1,321 times a day, in 57 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 7 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 382 days, one point a day.

Something wrong?
Compare

He turned the peanut into a symbol of self-sufficiency and soil science into a quiet revolution for Southern farmers too poor to keep planting cotton into dust.

ScientistsScientistChemistryBiologyUnited StatesAmericas19th Century

A life in dates

1990National Inventors Hall of FameAward1943Died5 January 19431928Honorary DoctorateAward1923Spingarn MedalAward1902“The virgin fertility of our soils and the vast amount of unskilled labor have been more of a curse than a blessing to agriculture.”In their wordsThe Need of Scientific Agriculture in the South (Tuskegee Institute, 1902)

1864Born1 January 1864

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

George Washington Carver c1910George Washington Carver c1910"Build for the future" - NARA - 513986"Build for the future" - NARA - 51398620111110-OC-AMW-0024 - Flickr - USDAgov20111110-OC-AMW-0024 - Flickr - USDAgovAUSTIN CURTIS - SCIENTIST SUCCESSOR TO DR. CARVER - NARA - 535696AUSTIN CURTIS - SCIENTIST SUCCESSOR TO DR. CARVER - NARA - 535696Betsy Graves Reyneau and Thomas L. GriffithBetsy Graves Reyneau and Thomas L. GriffithCARVER COURT, CALN TWP, NORTHERN CHESTER COUNTY, PACARVER COURT, CALN TWP, NORTHERN CHESTER COUNTY, PACarver1webCarver1webGeorge W Carver - NARA - 559197George W Carver - NARA - 559197

In their own words 6

,
George Washington Carver
,
6 statements, newest first

  1. The virgin fertility of our soils and the vast amount of unskilled labor have been more of a curse than a blessing to agriculture.

    1902, The Need of Scientific Agriculture in the South (Tuskegee Institute, 1902), Own words

  2. Our creator is the same and never changes despite the names given Him by people here and in all parts of the world.

    Quoted in Linda O. McMurray, George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol (Oxford University Press, 1982, , 382 pages), p. 106, Own words

  3. I know that my Redeemer lives. Thank God I love humanity, complexion doesn't interest me one single a bit.

    George Washington Carver: In His Own Words (1991), edited by Gary R. Kremer, University of Missouri Press, p. 131, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

National Inventors Hall of Fame1990
Honorary Doctorate1928
Spingarn Medal1923

About this person

Born into slavery around 1864, Carver earned a master's degree and joined Tuskegee Institute as a professor, where he attacked the South's cotton monoculture problem with a farmer's practicality. He taught crop rotation - peanuts, sweet potatoes, anything but cotton - and published over forty bulletins packed with recipes and techniques for working depleted land without money. The Experiment Station under his direction became a lifeline for struggling farmers, black and white. His environmental advocacy and agricultural ingenuity earned him the NAACP's Spingarn Medal and, rare for the era, widespread respect across the color line. Time called him a "Black Leonardo" in 1941, two years before his death.

Country
United States
Category
Scientists
Type
Scientist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1864 to 1943 · aged 79

Scientists from the United States 6

Harry K. Daghlian, Jr.57.8Samuel Colt57.8Vint Cerf57.8Leon Cooper57.7Raymond Davis Jr.57.9Martin Lewis Perl57.7

Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.