Lysenkoism refers to an episode in Russian science featuring a non-scientific plant-breeder named Academian Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (1898-1976). Lysenko was the leading proponent of Michurinism during the Lenin/Stalin years. I. V. Michurin, in turn, was a proponent of Lamarckism. Lamarck was an 18th century French scientist who argued for a theory of evolution long before Darwin. Lamarckism holds that inheritance of acquired traits is real. In other words, one could water a plant with sugary water and the descendants of the plant would produce sweeter fruit.
Another practice was vernalization, heating seeds to make them develop faster.
Joseph Stalin imposed acceptance of Lysenkoism by force and called any investgiation of rival claims "ideologicaly impure" and "reactionary". Lysenkoism can be thought of as politically correct science.
References and Further Reading
- Lysenkoism from The Skeptic's Dictionary
- Nikolai Bezroukov's Short Introduction to Lysenkoism (Lysenkoism as a cult)
- Extract from Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History by Helena Sheehan ISBN 1573925519 [1]
- Getting Started on Lysenkoism by Robert M. Young[1]
- The Present Danger To Science and Society by Frederick Seitz[1]
- Skeptic Magazine Interview With Robert Sternberg on The Bell Curve[1]
- Gardner, Martin. "Lysenkoism," ch. 12 in Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (New York: Dover Books, 1957) ISBN 0486203948 [1]
- Levins, Richard and Richard Lewontin. "Lysenkoism," in The Dialectical Biologist (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1985)[1]
