| George Washington Carver: Chemurgist |
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George Washington Carver was known as a Chemurgist. His birthdate is not actually known, but some believe he was born in 1865. Carver grew up in the slavery days, but he never gave up on his goals in life. He received his bachelors from Iowa Agricultural College in 1894. He wanted to help the farmer by teaching them to turn their crops. He also wanted to educate them about three crops that could be used for a variety of things. The peanut, sweet potatoes and soybeans were the three crops George concentrated on. He taught the cotton farmers how they could rotate their cotton crops with one of these other crops and it would help put the nutrients back in the soil that the cotton drained out. While he was teaching the farmers things he went on to make several different things out of peanuts, pecans, soybeans and sweet potatoes. George was able to produce paints, stains and even cosmetics. George had there patents in place for the paints, stains and cosmetics. He made things that would help aid the farmers like axle grease, flour, linoleum and many more. Over the years George was honored for his accomplishments. President Roosevelt gave $30,000 for a national monument to be dedicated to him. Diamond Grove, Missouri has preserved a park and George received the Spingarn Medal in 1923. Unfortunately when George passed in 1943 he had none of his formulas wrote down for others to use. George kept all his formulas in his head and never encountered a problem remembering them. The only thing that was written down was on the bulletins George made all the time. On these bulletins were recipes people would use for baking different things with the peanut, soybeans, sweet potatoes and the pecans that the farmers produced. |
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