Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (
1898-
1976) came from a peasant family in the
Ukraine. He was a prominent figure in the
Soviet Union because of his controversial, unscientific, approach to biological science, beginning with agriculture and leading to a more general theory of heredity that rejected the existence of genes. Particularly, Lysenko insisted on the ability of different species to
transform one into another. He "proved" this by planting a field of
wheat and finding there several plants of
rye. The real reason for this was in stray seeds of rye that found their way to the field; however in order to hide the obvious he silenced those who dared to speak against him using his connections with the Secret Police (
NKVD).
After
World War II, the
Soviet regime led by
Joseph Stalin began to distance itself from Western ideas and concepts, and science was no exception. Stalin declared
genetics and
cybernetics to be Anti-Soviet and ideologically unfit; Lysenko was put in charge of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Soviet Union and made responsible for ending the propagation of these harmful ideas among Soviet scientists. He served this purpose faithfully, causing the expulsion, imprisonment and death of hundreds of scientists and the demise of genetics (a previously flourishing field) throughout the Soviet Union. Particularly, he is responsible for the death of the greatest Soviet biologist,
Nikolai Vavilov[?], at the hands of the
NKVD. After Stalin's death in 1953, Lysenko retained his position, enjoying a relative degree of trust from
Nikita Khrushchev.
In 1962 three of the most prominent Soviet physicists, Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich[?], Vitaly Ginzburg[?] and Peter Kapitza[?], set out against Lysenko, his false science and his policy of political extermination of scientific opponents. This happened as a part of a greater trend of fighting the ideological influence that has caused so much harm to Russian society and science. Lysenko was then dismissed by Khrushchev.
- "Lysenko came to believe that the crucial factor in determining the length of the vegetation period in a plant was not its genetic constitution, but its interaction with its environment." [1] (http://www.comms.dcu.ie/sheehanh/lysenko.htm)
- "Under Lysenko's guidance, science was guided not by the most likely theories, backed by appropriately controlled experiments, but by the desired ideology." [2] (http://skepdic.com/lysenko.html)
- See also : Gregor Mendel