USDA Names Complex for  Dr. Carver
 
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture, honoring the genius of Dr. George Washington Carver,   earlier this month named a new federal building complex after the famous Black inventor/scientist.
The dedication ceremony in the suburban Washington area of Beltsville, Md., was held Oct. 6 in conjunction with "Carver Week" Oct. 4 through Oct. 8.
During the event, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman praised the late Carver's contributions not only to science, but also to medicine, nutrition and art.
Dr. Benjamin Payton, president of Tuskegee University in Alabama where Carver conducted most of his greatest scientific work during the tenure of President Booker T. Washington, also spoke at the dedication as did Dr. David  G. Topel, the agriculture dean at Iowa State University.
Perhaps best known for his research on the peanut plant, Carver was a master of the science of chemurgy — a branch of chemistry that deals with the industrial utilization of raw materials, especially farm products.
He developed about 100 products derived from the sweet potato and soybean in addition to the 325 products he developed from the peanut. Carver also was an accomplished artist, painter and musician.
The George Washington Carver Center is a sprawling 350,000-square-foot facility, a combination of several two- and three-story buildings. In addition to office space, the complex provides four government agencies and their 1,000 employees with a cafeteria, fitness center, healthcare center, credit union and a daycare center.
Carver also has been honored with three postage stamps and a U.S. ship that bears his name. And, he has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. A museum on his life that is run by the U.S. Park Service is housed at Tuskegee University.