Indian agronomist and geneticist Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan was born in India in 1925. When India gained independence in 1947, Swaminathan studied in Delhi. He then continued his studies in Wageningen and Wisconsin, among other places. In 1954 after graduation, Swaminathan returned to India. Dr Swaminathan worked with his teams to crossbreed new varieties of potatoes, cereals, rice and jute. He became an expert on plant adaptations. Back home, Dr Swaminathan became director of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and president of the Food and Agriculture Organisation. He also served as president of the International Union for Conservation and Natural Resources (IUCN). Dr Swaminathan was an active supporter of science's aid to peace and security.

Dr Swaminathan has been called the 'father of the Green Revolution'. He himself would prefer to think of it as an 'evergreen revolution'. For many years, Dr Swaminathan has been working on sustainable development under the motto 'eradicate hunger and poverty from the world'. As the founder of 'economic ecology', he was widely and extensively honoured. In the following years, criticism grew within the scientific community over his questionable research methods, genetic mutations and manipulation. For instance, Dr Swaminathan was said to have falsely claimed new discoveries. Investigations revealed that mistakes had been made in the laboratory in a few experiments.