Kolchinsky, Eduard I. (Author)
This paper examines new evidence from Russian archives to argue that Soviet geneticist and plant breeder, Nikolai I. Vavilov's fate was sealed during the ‘Cultural Revolution’ (‘Revolution from Above’) (1929–1932). This was several years before Trofim D. Lysenko, the Soviet agronomist and widely portrayed archenemy and destroyer of Vavilov, became a major force in Soviet science. During the ‘Cultural Revolution’ the Soviet leadership wanted to subordinate science and research to the task of socialist reconstruction. Vavilov, who was head of the Institute of Plant Breeding (VIR) and the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VASKhNIL), came under attack from the younger generation of researchers who were keen to transform biology into a proletarian science. The new evidence shows that it was during this period that Vavilov lost his independence to determine research strategies and manage personnel within his own institute. These changes meant that Lysenko, who had won Stalin's support, was able to gain influence and eventually exert authority over Vavilov. Based on the new evidence, Vavilov's arrest in 1940 after he criticized Lysenko's conception of Non-Mendelian genetics was just the final challenge to his authority. He had already experienced years of harassment that began before Lysenko gained a position of influence. Vavilov died in prison in 1943.
...More
Article
Argueta, Arturo;
Argueta, Quetzal;
(2011)
Vavilov, A Soviet Darwinist in Mexico
(/isis/citation/CBB001220382/)
Article
Bonneuil, Christophe;
(2006)
Mendelism, Plant Breeding and Experimental Cultures: Agriculture and the Development of Genetics in France
(/isis/citation/CBB000670737/)
Article
Roll-Hansen, Nils;
(2008)
Wishful Science: The Persistence of T. D. Lysenko's Agrobiology in the Politics of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000850336/)
Article
Iida, Kaori;
(2010)
Practice and Politics in Japanese Science: Hitoshi Kihara and the Formation of a Genetics Discipline
(/isis/citation/CBB001022380/)
Chapter
Krementsov, Nikolai;
(2010)
Darwinism, Marxism, and Genetics in the Soviet Union
(/isis/citation/CBB001020304/)
Article
Kolchinsky, E. I.;
Shalimov, S. V.;
(2012)
The “Sixth Continent” of N. I. Vavilov
(/isis/citation/CBB001211412/)
Book
Nabhan, Gary Paul;
(2009)
Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine
(/isis/citation/CBB000952061/)
Article
Barabanschikov, Boris I.;
Ermolajev, Andrey I.;
(2011)
Kazan University during the Lysenkoism Period
(/isis/citation/CBB001220381/)
Book
Loren R. Graham;
(2016)
Lysenko's Ghost: Epigenetics and Russia
(/isis/citation/CBB240396828/)
Article
Saito, Hirofumi;
Aleksandr Alekseevich Semenov;
(2019)
How Was Biology Education Reformed in Russia after the Lysenko Period?
(/isis/citation/CBB489085804/)
Article
Tsuyoshi Fujioka;
(2016)
Japanese Lysenkoists after Lysenko's Downfall
(/isis/citation/CBB185598354/)
Book
Roll-Hansen, Nils;
(2005)
The Lysenko Effect: The Politics of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000501469/)
Article
Hirofumi Saito;
(2016)
The Early Movement for Normalizing Biology Education in Russia after Lysenko's Downfall in 1965
(/isis/citation/CBB587410044/)
Book
Pringle, Peter;
(2008)
The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov: The Story of Stalin's Persecution of One of the Great Scientists of the Twentieth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001232480/)
Book
Tschermak-Seysenegg, Armin von;
Tschermak-Seysenegg, Erich von;
Simunek, Michal;
Hoßfeld, Uwe;
Thümmler, Florian;
Breidbach, Olaf;
(2011)
The Mendelian Dioskuri: Correspondence of Armin with Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg, 1898--1951
(/isis/citation/CBB001221421/)
Article
Endersby, Jim;
(2013)
Mutant Utopias: Evening Primroses and Imagined Futures in Early Twentieth-Century America
(/isis/citation/CBB001321212/)
Chapter
Roll-Hansen, Nils;
(2011)
Lamarckism and Lysenkoism Revisited
(/isis/citation/CBB001500087/)
Article
Wieland, Thomas;
(2006)
Scientific Theory and Agricultural Practice: Plant Breeding in Germany from the Late 19th to the Early 20th Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000670738/)
Article
Saraiva, Tiago;
Wise, M. Norton;
(2010)
Autarky/Autarchy: Genetics, Food Production, and the Building of Fascism
(/isis/citation/CBB001022620/)
Book
Kingsbury, Noel;
(2009)
Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding
(/isis/citation/CBB001510343/)
Be the first to comment!