Was Luther Burbank a scientist?

Answer 1

Theres a Luther Burbank park near where I live!

Answer 2

Plant breeder and horticulturist, born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, USA. The 13th child of a farmer, he grew up interested in nature, and although he had little formal science education, he was influenced by the ideas of Charles Darwin. Turning to farming to support his widowed mother, by 1870 he was experimenting with improving the varieties of vegetables. His first success was a potato that grew in the stony Massachusetts soil, to which he sold the rights for $150 to a seed dealer who named it the Burbank. In 1875 he went to Santa Rosa, CA, where he began what proved to be a prosperous nursery business which he later sold (1893) to concentrate on his own experimental farm at nearby Sebastopol. Over the years, by selecting the most desirable specimens or by hybridizing and grafting two or more plants, he developed hundreds of new varieties of vegetables, fruit, and ornamental plants, including the Shasta daisy. He published many catalogues of his plants as well as the multi-volume Luther Burbank, His Methods and Discoveries (1914–15) and How Plants Are Trained to Work for Man (1921). Although he was not truly a scientist and most of his new varieties no longer have commercial value, he remains something of an American legend as a self-taught ‘tinkerer with nature’.

Answer 3

Yes indeed. Mr. Burbank (American 1849-1926) was an early pioneer in agricultural science. He was able to produce over 800 varieties of plants. He was called a wizard and many of the strains he produced are still in use today, especially his potato which is still the one most commonly used commercially. His research enabled people to grow plants which would survive insect infestations and poor soil conditions while still yielding the best fruit. He pioneered methods of growing which produced fantastic results in years instead of decades or even centuries of experimentation.

A friend of mine had one of his lemon trees - best tasting lemons I ever had by far and they got to be size of large oranges.

His home in Santa Rosa, CA is beautiful and is open to the public.

Source: Wikipedia and personal study.