Article ID: CBB001250827

How Lysenkoism Became Pseudoscience: Dobzhansky to Velikovsky (2012)

unapi

At some point in America in the 1940s, T. D. Lysenko's neo-Lamarckian hereditary theories transformed from a set of disputed doctrines into a prime exemplar of pseudoscience. This paper explores the context in which this theory acquired this pejorative status by examining American efforts to refute Lysenkoism both before and after the famous August 1948 endorsement of Lysenko's doctrines by the Stalinist state, with particular attention to the translation efforts of Theodosius Dobzhansky. After enumerating numerous tactics for combating perceived pseudoscience, the Lysenko case is then juxtaposed with another American case of alleged pseudoscience: the notorious 1950 scandal surrounding Immanuel Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision (1950, Worlds in Collision. New York: Macmillan). On several levels, the characterization of Lysenkoism as pseudoscientific served as a template for casting other rejected theories, including Velikovsky's, in the same light.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001250827/

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Authors & Contributors
Wolfe, Audra Jayne
de Jong-Lambert, William
Duančić, Vedran
Rizhinashvili, Alexandra
Beddeleem, Martin
Strządała, Agata
Concepts
Science and politics
Science and ideology
Controversies and disputes
Genetics
Cold War
Biology
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
19th century
Places
Soviet Union
United States
Great Britain
Moscow (Russia)
Yugoslavia
Argentina
Institutions
Genetics Society of America
Rockefeller Foundation
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