In 1837, Charles Morren, a professor of botany at the University of Liège in Belgium, published a method of hand-pollination, but his technique was slow and required too much effort to make cultivating vanilla a moneymaking proposition.

[6] In 1841, Albius invented a method to quickly pollinate the vanilla orchid using a thin stick or blade of grass and a simple thumb gesture.

[7] Noted French botanist and plant collector Jean Michel Claude Richard falsely claimed to have discovered the technique three or four years earlier.

[8] In gratitude for – and in recognition of – his discovery, locals on Réunion attempted (unsuccessfully) to obtain a reward or a government stipend for Albius.

[12] Albius' story is explored in "The Enslaved Teen Who Cracked Vanilla’s Secret", an episode of Ideas on CBC Radio.