Lysenko theory

With the rapid development of contemporary science and technology, people pay more and more attention to the understanding of the relationship between science and society. The restriction and influence of certain historical conditions, political background, ideology and other non-scientific factors on scientists or scientists' behavior can not be ignored sometimes. 1930-in the 1960s, the "lysenko Incident" in the history of science and technology in the Soviet Union was a tragic event in which science and politics struggled, and political authority replaced scientific authority to adjudicate scientific disputes.

Lysenko (T.D. lysenko,1898-1976) was born in a Ukrainian peasant family. 1925 After graduating from Kiev Agricultural College, I worked in a breeding station. Although Ukraine and Azerbaijan are located in the south, winter crops are occasionally threatened by frost weather. 1929, Li's father accidentally discovered that wheat seeds wintering in the snow can mature before the first frost if planted in spring. On this basis, lysenko developed a breeding method called "vernalization treatment", that is, wetting and freezing seeds before sowing to accelerate their growth. Lysenko exaggerated his discovery as a panacea to solve the threat of frost. Therefore, the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture decided to set up a department specializing in vernalization in the Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetics in Odessa, and appointed lysenko to be in charge. "Vernalization" once existed in Russian agricultural history, and lysenko gave a theoretical explanation. The value and function of technology and theory in guiding agricultural production need to be tested by practice, and lysenko's popularization of this technology relies not on strict scientific experiments, but on exaggeration and falsification. He was rightly criticized by honest scientists.

Due to political and other reasons, lysenko insisted on the concept of acquired inheritance in biological evolution and denied the existence of genes. He used Lamarck's (1744- 1829) and Michulin's genetics to fight against the mainstream G. Mendel-T.H. Morgan (G. Mendel-T.H. lysenko's initial main opponent was American geneticist and discoverer of induced mutation, and he thought that the classical Mendel genetics was completely in line with dialectical materialism. N·I· vavilov, president of the former Soviet Academy of Agricultural Sciences, supported Mill's viewpoint and became the number one opponent of lysenko.

From the late1920s, lysenko bypassed the academic field and knocked down critics by political means. 1935 14 In February, lysenko took advantage of Stalin's participation in the second collective farm commando congress in the whole Soviet Union and made a speech on "vernalization is a measure to increase production". Lysenko said in his speech that the debate about biology is just like the debate about collectivization, and it is fighting against class enemies who try to obstruct the development of the Soviet Union. He claimed to be a scientist who opposed Chunhua's law: "Class enemies will always be class enemies whether he is in academia or not ...". Lysenko attacked academic intellectuals with self-denial censorship in a brand-new way, which was recognized by Stalin, and lysenko raised academic issues to political issues. Although five years' continuous experiments (1931-1936) have been carried out in more than 50 locations in Ukraine, it shows that vernalization treatment has not improved wheat yield, but it cannot shake the victory that lysenko has achieved.

Lysenko's opponents began to face bad luck. Muller escaped from the secret police and vavilov was arrested at 1940. He was sentenced to death first, then to 20 years' imprisonment. 1943 died of malnutrition. 1935, lysenko was awarded the title of academician of Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and All-Soviet Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and became the director of Odessa Institute of Plant Genetics and Breeding.

During World War II, the influence of Soviet scientists increased greatly because of their great contribution to national defense. Some people therefore hope to relax their control over scientists after the war. In 1946- 1947, this improvement seems to have appeared. 1947, Soviet biologist Sima Haosen published an article explicitly criticizing lysenkoism in the main philosophical journals of the Soviet Union. 1948, Yuri Zhdanov (son of Andrei zhdanov, one of Stalin's main assistants, Stalin's son-in-law), the official in charge of science in the Central Committee at that time, accepted the complaint of Soviet biologists including V·p· Evlomson and A.A. Lyubyshev to the Central Committee, arguing that lysenko was wrong to deny Mendelian genetics. Zhdanov criticized lysenko in his subsequent report.

However, lysenko succeeded again because he sought the support of Stalin. 1In August, 948, the Soviet Union held a meeting of the all-Soviet Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences (also known as the "August meeting") attended by more than a thousand people. Lysenko made a report on the current situation of biological science at the conference. He summarized all his "new theories" and "new opinions" as the main contents of "Michulin Biology", claiming that "Michulin Biology" is "socialist", "progressive", "materialistic" and "proletarian". Mendel-Morgan genetics is reactionary, idealistic, metaphysical and bourgeois. With Stalin's approval, orthodox genetics in the Soviet Union was banned. Lysenko announced at the conference that this meeting "scientifically eliminated the Mendel-Morgan-weismann Doctrine, which is a complete victory of Morganism, a historic milestone and a great festival".

The "August meeting" caused great damage to the genetics of the Soviet Union. It is forbidden to teach Morgan genetics in colleges and universities; All non-lysenkoism research projects in scientific research institutions have stopped; A large number of research institutions and laboratories have been closed, cancelled or reorganized; It is reported that more than 3,000 geneticists in the Soviet Union lost their jobs in universities and scientific research institutions and were persecuted to varying degrees. The bad influence of "August Meeting" spread to many countries in the Eastern Group, including China. "August meeting" made lysenko reach the pinnacle of "career". Lysenko's personal victory is undoubtedly a scientific tragedy.

The voice of truth has not disappeared because of this. At the end of 1952, the Journal of Botany of the Soviet Union, edited by Academician Sukachev, broke through the resistance and once again issued a voice different from that of lysenko, which opened the prelude to the great debate on species and species formation in the Soviet Union. After that, the magazine published a large number of articles to expose the fraudulent facts and unethical behaviors of lysenko and his followers. 1953 After Stalin's death on March 5, the cultural life of the Soviet Union was thawed. At the end of 1955, more than 300 famous Soviet scientists jointly wrote to the highest authorities of the Soviet Union, demanding that lysenko be dismissed as the president of the All-Soviet Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 1956 February, after the 20th Congress of the Soviet Union, Stalin's personality cult was criticized, and lysenko was forced to resign due to the situation, which was approved by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. However, lysenko was able to continue his anti-science career because Khrushchev repeated Stalin's mistakes and once again intervened in academic debates with political power. 1958 12 14, Pravda published an editorial entitled "On Agricultural Biology and Commenting on the Wrong Stand of the Botanical Journal", accusing the Botanical Journal of the controversy and wrongly denying lysenko. Academician Sukachev was dismissed as editor-in-chief of Botany Journal, a large number of scientists who opposed the "new ideas" of species and species formation in lysenko were dismissed, and a number of laboratories were closed. 196 1 year, lysenko was re-appointed as the president of the all-Soviet Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

1964 10, Khrushchev stepped down. Lysenkoism was rejected in the Soviet Academy of Sciences. At this point, lysenko lost its monopoly position in the field of biology in the Soviet Union. Lysenkoism failed to realize the Soviet Union's ideal of "bread will be there", but made their molecular biology and genetic engineering hopelessly backward, and the Soviet Union lost two generations of modern biologists.

The lesson of history is to educate mankind. Today, it is still an arduous task for human beings that science is completely out of the shadow of political power and lysenko. The words of norbert wiener, the founder of cybernetics, provide a reflection on this incident: "Science is a way of life, and it can flourish only when people have freedom of belief. Beliefs that are forced to obey based on external orders are not beliefs. A society based on this false belief will inevitably die because of paralysis, because in such a society, science has no basis for healthy growth. "