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Statue of Norman Borlaug, scientist credited with 'Green Revolution,' unveiled at US Capitol

Associated Press
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From left, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Jeanie Borlaug Laube, daughter of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad applaud after a statue of the late Dr. Norman E. Borlaug is unveiled in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (The Associated Press)

From left, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio,, and Jeanie Borlaug Laube, daughter of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, stand together in National Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2014, in front of a statue of the late Dr. Norman E. Borlaug during an unveiling ceremony. Borlaug, an Iowa native, is known as the “Father of The Green Revolution” and his development of "miracle wheat" is credited with saving an estimated billion people around the world from hunger and starvation. He is the only American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, the Congressional Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (The Associated Press)

The scientist credited with agriculture's so-called "Green Revolution" has a permanent home in the U.S. Capitol.

Lawmakers unveiled a statue of Norman Borlaug on Tuesday in a ceremony on what would have been his 100th birthday. Borlaug died in 2009.

The Iowa native and University of Minnesota graduate is credited with saving as many as 1 billion people from hunger by creating a type of wheat that was disease-resistant and high-yielding. His work won him the 1970 Nobel Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

Borlaug's statue will serve as one of two for Iowa in the Capitol and will replace one of James Harlan, a former senator friend of Abraham Lincoln. It had been in place for more than 100 years.