George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver developed techniques to return nutrients to soils that were depleted by repeated crops of cotton. He urged farmers to practice crop rotation and alternate cotton crops with sweet potatoes or legumes such as peanuts. The latter crops would restore nitrogen to the soil and give farmers both an alternative cash crop and better cotton yields in cotton years.
Carver is best known for his work on peanut crops and devised over 30 products that could be created using peanuts. Among them were dyes, plastics, milks, cosmetics, medicinal oils, soap, ink and gasoline. He also discovered 118 uses for sweet potatoes including postage stamp glue, vinegar, flour and synthetic rubber.
Carver saw no problem with being a Christian and a scientist. In fact, Carver testified repeatedly that his Christian faith was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue science. He believed that God provided everything that people needed, but it was up to humans to discover the secrets and uses hidden within each plant, animal or mineral.