Soybean science blooms with supercomputers

Knowledge of the soybean in the U.S. has come a long way since its humble start, namely as seeds smuggled by ship from China in the 1700s. A sanction back then from emperor Qianlong prevented trade outside of Canton. Undeterred, a former seaman with the East India Trading Company named Samuel Bowen first brought soybeans to Savannah, Georgia, in 1765. A couple of years later Bowen filed a patent for a new way of making sago (a starchy cake), vermicelli (noodles), and soy sauce from soybeans. Soybeans on colonial soil also got noticed by Benjamin Franklin, who wrote of their universal use in China as a cheese, which we now call tofu.

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