2001-2002 Season

Dr. Ingo Potrykus created Golden Rice in 1999 before his retirement from a full professorship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He has since been pictured on the cover of Time magazine, as well as featured in numerous scientific journals and internationally in newspapers. Potrykus travels the world with two missions: to get the rice to the people who need it most, the approximately three billion people whose main food staple is rice; and expounding the value of research into how common food plants can be fortified with traits and healthy nutrients that make them more beneficial for both consumers and farmers.

Oil Patch Warriors and Veterans – We were honored to host several former members of the oilfield crews of the Noble Drilling Corporation and the Fain-Porter Drilling Company and several local WWII veterans as part of this event. The "Oil Patch Survivors," as they are commonly referred to, traveled overseas during World War II to increase England's oil production. In the depths of Sherwood Forest, these men demonstrated their tremendous skill by increasing production from 300 to 3,000 barrels per day.

Dennis Avery is the director of the Center for Global Food Issues in Churchville, Virginia and a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. His area of expertise is in the area of sustainable world agriculture. He is also the editor of Global Food Quarterly, the newsletter for the Center, and writes a weekly column for The BridgeNews Forum. He has been quoted in such publications as Time, The Washington Post and The Farm Journal.

Dr. Mark Plotkin has worked with the tribal people of the Amazon for more than 20 years. He is a research associate at the Department of Botany of the Smithsonian Institution and executive director of the Amazon Conservation Team, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting biological and cultural diversity of the tropical rain forest. Plotkin was also named a "Hero of the Planet" in 1998 by Time magazine.

Argus Hamilton is often referred to as "the funniest topical comedian in America." Hamilton's syndicated humor column is read in newspapers and heard by millions on radio stations and the Internet across the country. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in Norman and resides in Los Angeles.

Speakers Lists
2006-2007 Season
2005-2006 Season
2004-2005 Season
2003-2004 Season
2002-2003 Season
2001-2002 Season
2000-2001 Season
1999-2000 Season
1998-1999 Season
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All programs are open to the general public at no charge. For more info or to suggest a future speaker, please contact Mary Kate Wilson (mkwilson@noble.org) at 580.224.6246.