Trofim Lysenko
| Trofim Lysenko | |
|---|---|
Lysenko in 1938
|
|
| Born | Trofim Denisovich Lysenko September 29, 1898 Karlivka, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 20 November 1976 (aged 78) Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Citizenship | USSR |
| Nationality | Ukrainian |
| Fields |
Biology Agronomy |
| Institutions | Russian Academy of Sciences |
| Alma mater | Kiev Agricultural Institute |
| Known for |
Lysenkoism Rejecting Mendelian inheritance Vernalization |
Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (Russian: Трофи́м Дени́сович Лысе́нко, Ukrainian: Трохи́м Дени́сович Лисе́нко; 29 September [O.S. 17 September] 1898 – 20 November 1976) was a Soviet agrobiologist. As a student Lysenko found himself interested in agriculture, where he worked on a few different projects, one involving the effects of temperature variation on the life-cycle of plants. This later led him to consider how he might use this work to convert winter wheat into spring wheat. He named the process "jarovization" in Russian, and later translated it as "vernalization". Lysenko was a strong proponent of soft inheritance and rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of pseudoscientific ideas termed Lysenkoism.
His experimental research in improved crop yields earned him the support of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, especially following the famine and loss of productivity resulting from resistance to forced collectivization in several regions of the Soviet Union in the early 1930s. In 1940, Lysenko became director of the Institute of Genetics within the USSR's Academy of Sciences, and the exercise of political influence and power further secured his anti-Mendelian doctrines in Soviet science and education. Scientific dissent from Lysenko's theories of environmentally acquired inheritance was formally outlawed in the Soviet Union in 1948.
...
Wikipedia