# george Washington Carver: man or Myth?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-carver-man-or-myth/376654>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [October 16, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-carver-man-or-myth/376654 "2006-10-16T17:20:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-carver-man-or-myth/376654/1 "2006-10-16T17:20:26Z")

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I know a little about the man, except that he was born a slave, and through immense struggle, obtaines a college education, and evenrually earned a ph.D in chemistry. But the man was supposed to have invented hundreds of compounds made from peanuts; which resulted in products like paints, soaps, medicines, etc., all peanut derived. My question: was his inventions commercially viable? or did he give his patents rights way\> or was it hype to begin with?

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-carver-man-or-myth/376654/2 "2006-10-16T17:30:52Z")

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> **[George Washington Carver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver)**
>
> George Washington Carver (c. 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century.
> While a professor at Tuskegee Institute, Carver developed techniques to improve types of soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton. He wanted poor farmers to grow other crops, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, as a source of th...

HO-YO-YO! 🙂

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**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-carver-man-or-myth/376654/3 "2006-10-16T22:01:02Z")

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A quick google search uncovered [this](http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4642(197611)42%3A4%3C507%3AGWCTMO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4)

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**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-carver-man-or-myth/376654/4 "2006-10-16T22:03:19Z")

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Oops. I think [this](http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1977/5/1977_5_66.shtml) is the full article

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**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-carver-man-or-myth/376654/5 "2006-10-16T23:26:13Z")

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Carver’s inflated reputation can be traced to one of his earliest inventions: a publicity agent made from peanuts.