Wiki: George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver is not the George Washington we all know. He was not the leader of a country. He did not change the lives of millions of people. As a matter of fact, he's barely known for what he did. But the aim of what he did is as much notorious.

George Washington Carver was a peanut expert. Guru of peanuts. The peanut lord.

Ok. What about peanuts that makes the guy such a good person? He took something common (peanuts) and used it to help people in need. Read his story...

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Southern US farmers relied mostly on cotton which depleted the soil. Then on top of that, the boll weevil (an ugly insect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_weevil) migrated from Mexico to destroy the cotton crops.

Times for Southern farmers became hard.

That's when a black man named George Washington Carver born before the slavery was abolished in Missouri. He took a common crops, which was peanut and found over 300 products and uses for it. A 105 recipes and over a 100 products useful for the house and farming. Things like cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline and nitroglycerin. There are no official records of all his inventions, even if he became more famous later his main focus was to help the people in a very difficult time.

Go read his wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver), it's very interesting.

To rise up in a time of need and help all the people around you is an incredible feat. And besides, over 300 uses for peanuts? Before I read that I knew about 2 only. Eating them, and peanut butter!

Nitroglycerin, you can make dynamites with peanuts? You just learned something today!