Cambridge genetics graduate M. S. Swaminathan (1925–) was born in India. Popularly known as “the godfather of the Green Revolution,” who transformed agriculture in Asia, Prof. Swaminathan also served as president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and is a leading advocate of environmentally sustainable agriculture, sustainable food security and biodiversity preservation. TIME magazine named Prof. Swaminathan one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century—the only other two from India being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He was awarded the first World Food Prize in 1987.