View source for Derald George Langham

{{Infobox scientist
| name = Derald George Langham
| image = Derald George Langham 2552.jpg
| alt = Derald George Langham
| birth_date = {{birth date|1913|05|27|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Polk City, Iowa, United States
| death_date = {{death date|1991|05|10|mf=y}}
| death_place = Wellton, Arizona, United States
| residence = Wellton, AZ, United States
| nationality = USA
| fields = Genetics, plant breeding
| alma_mater = Iowa State College, Cornell University, United States International University
| known_for = Sesame genetics, the Genesa geometric model
}}

'''Derald George Langham''' (May 27, 1913 – May 10, 1991) was an American agricultural geneticist and plant breeder, known for his research on the genetics of sesame and, later in life, for developing the geometric conceptual model he called "Genesa". Widely described as the "father of sesame" in the Western Hemisphere, he bred many of the sesame lines subsequently grown throughout the Americas.

==Biography==
Langham was born on May 27, 1913, on a farm near Polk City, Iowa, where an early exposure to agriculture shaped his lifelong interest in plants and animals. He studied agronomy at Iowa State College and then pursued graduate work in genetics at Cornell University, where he received a Ph.D. in plant genetics in 1939 under Rollins A. Emerson. In 1969 he earned a second doctorate, a Ph.D. in humanities, from the United States International University in San Diego.

In 1939, while still in his twenties, Langham was engaged by the Venezuelan government as geneticist at the country's first agricultural experiment station, near Caracas. He directed Venezuela's national plant genetics program and remained active in the country into the late 1950s, later maintaining ties through his company Genetica Venezolana, S.A. He died on May 10, 1991, in Wellton, Arizona.

==Scientific contributions==
Langham conducted foundational research on the genetics of sesame (''Sesamum indicum''), and most of the sesame lines later grown in the Americas trace to his breeding work. He also worked on corn and beans; his corn material was incorporated by the Rockefeller Institute's program in Mexico, and a high-yielding variety he developed was reported to have substantially increased corn yields in Venezuela. Over his career he produced more than 100 publications in scholarly outlets. He founded the non-profit Sesamum Foundation and was a co-founder of the Sesaco Corporation, based in San Antonio, Texas.

==Genesa==
In the 1950s, while seeking to keep his genetic strains of sesame from cross-mixing during heavy rains, Langham observed that his plants grew better when arranged in circular beds rather than straight rows. This work led him to found the Genesa Foundation, which promoted "Circle Gardening" methods and the broader set of ideas he termed Genesa. According to Langham, the name combined the word "gene" with the letters "SA", for South America.

Langham described the Genesa Concept as "a model that can carry us from one learning experience to another, integrate the known, and probe into the unknown." His "Genesa Crystal", a cuboctahedral form, was intended to mirror the cellular pattern of an embryonic organism after the third cell division, the eight-cell stage at which, he held, the cellular structure of all life forms is identical. Langham regarded this eight-cell cluster as a point of full, infinite potential, writing that it held "the full potential for infinite love, for infinite wisdom, for infinite form, for infinite energy, for infinite power, for the Soul, for eternal time, for infinite velocity, for infinite faith. It has all your goals, your desires, your motivations - even life itself." He further stated that Genesa Crystals "make visible the invisible, make visible the geometry of the energy fields that envelope our 3rd dimensional system and penetrate it to the core."

==Honors==
* Order of Merit of Performance, awarded by Venezuela in 1972.

==Books==

* 1978 - "[[Circle Gardening: Producing Food by Genesa Principles]]" ([http://www.amazon.com/Circle-Gardening-Producing-Genesa-Principles/dp/0815952155/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344636975&sr=1-1&keywords=Derald+Langham Read in full])
* 1969 - "[[Genesa: an Attempt to Develop a Conceptual Model to Synthesize, Synchronize and Vitalize Man's Interpretation of Universal Phenomena]]"
* 1967 - "[[13-dimensional Genetics: Tomorrow's Thinking Today]]" ([http://www.amazon.com/13-dimensional-genetics-Tomorrows-thinking-today/dp/B0007HW2UM/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344636975&sr=1-2&keywords=Derald+Langham Read in full])

==External links==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derald_Langham Derald Langham] at Wikipedia
* [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL4572127M/Circle_gardening ''Circle Gardening''] at Open Library

[[Category:Scientist|Langham Derald]]