Robert F. Chandler
Robert Flint Chandler Jr. was an American horticulturalist who founded the International Rice Research Institute.
He obtained a degree in Horticulture from the University of Maine in 1929, and his Ph.D. in Pomology from the University of Maryland in 1934. He first taught at Cornell University and went on to become the Dean of the College of Agriculture, and then the President, of the University of New Hampshire.
From 1959 to 1972, Dr. Chandler was the founding Director of the International Rice Research Institute in Los Banos, Philippines. Working with a team of twenty-four researchers from numerous countries in Southeast Asia, Dr. Chandler gathered thousands of rice varieties to be tested and eventually selected to be grown under various conditions. Dr. Chandler's leadership was instrumental in developing over two dozen new varieties of rice that produced higher yields than traditional strains and increased rice production. These varieties helped the Philippines to achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 1968, and still provide food for millions across Asia. Later, he led the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center in Taiwan. In 1975, the government of the Republic of China awarded Chandler with the Order of Brilliant Star.
Dr. Chandler was awarded the Presidential End Hunger Award, and in 1988, he was awarded the World Food Prize for his leadership in building the agricultural research capacity at IRRI and AVRD.
