Editing Trofim Lysenko (section)

==Academic career==
===Work in Azerbaijan===
In October 1925, Lysenko was sent to [[Azerbaijan]], to a breeding station in the city of [[Ganja, Azerbaijan|Ganja]].<ref name="Voinov"/> The Ganja breeding station was part of the staff of the All-Union Institute of Applied Botany and New Crops (now the [[Institute of Plant Industry]]), created in 1925, which was headed by [[Nikolai Vavilov]]. The director of the station at that time was Nikolai Derevitsky, a specialist in mathematical statistics in agronomy. Derevitsky set Lysenko the task of [[introduced species|introducing]] [[legume|legume crops]] ([[Lupinus|lupine]], [[clover]], [[Lathyrus|peavine]], [[Vicia|vetch]]) into Azerbaijan, which could solve the problem of starvation of livestock in early spring, as well as increasing soil fertility when plowing these crops in the spring.<ref name="Soifer"/> Vavilov had done experiments on converting winter wheat into spring wheat. It was Vavilov who initially supported Lysenko and encouraged him in his work.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=X. |last2=Liu |first2=Y. |title=The conversion of spring wheat into winter wheat and vice versa: False claim or Lamarckian inheritance? |journal=[[Journal of Biosciences]] |volume=35 |issue=2 |year=2010 |pages=321–325 |doi=10.1007/s12038-010-0035-1 |pmid=20689187 |s2cid=10527354}}</ref> In the article, ''Pravda'' correspondent Vitaly Fedorovich described his first impression of the meeting with Lysenko:<ref name="Soifer"/>
{{blockquote|If you judge a person by first impression, then this Lysenko will leave you with a feeling of toothache - God bless him, he is a sad-looking person. And he is stingy with his words, and insignificant in face - all I remember is his gloomy eye, crawling along the ground with such an air as if, at least, he was going to kill someone.}}

Lysenko had a difficult time trying to grow various crops (such as peas and wheat) through the harsh winters. However, when he announced success, he was praised in the Soviet newspaper ''[[Pravda]]'' for his claims to have discovered a method to fertilize fields without using fertilizers or minerals, and to have shown that a winter crop of [[pea]]s could be grown in [[Azerbaijan]], "turning the barren fields of the [[Transcaucasus]] green in winter, so that cattle will not perish from poor feeding, and the peasant Turk will live through the winter without trembling for tomorrow."<ref name="LA">{{harvnb|Joravsky|1986}}.</ref>

Soon, Lysenko married one of the interns who trained under him, Alexandra Baskova. During the same period, breeder {{ill|Donat Dolgushin|ru|Долгушин, Донат Александрович}}, a future academic and supporter of Lysenko, began working with Lysenko.<ref name="Soifer"/>

[[File:Lysenko with Stalin.gif|thumb|upright=1.4|right|Lysenko speaking at [[the Kremlin]] in 1935. Behind him are [[Stanislav Kosior]], [[Anastas Mikoyan]], [[Andrey Andreyevich Andreyev|Andrei Andreyev]] and [[Joseph Stalin]].]]
Lysenko worked with different wheat crops to try to convert them to grow in different seasons. Another area Lysenko found himself interested in was the effect of heat on plant growth. He believed that every plant needed a determinate amount of heat throughout its lifetime. He attempted to correlate the time and the amount of heat required by a particular plant to go through various phases of development. To get his data he looked at the amount of growth, how many days went by, and the temperature on those days, instead of measuring any actual [[heat]]. In trying to determine the effects, he was making mistakes in statistical analysis of data. He was confronted by [[Nikolai Maximov (physiologist)|Nikolai Maximov]], who was an expert on thermal plant development. Lysenko did not take well to this or any criticism. After this encounter, Lysenko boldly claimed that mathematics had no place in biology.<ref name="LA"/>

His experimental research in improved crop yields earned him the support of the Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]], especially following the [[Russian famine of 1921|famine]] and loss of productivity resulting from crop failures and [[Collectivisation in the USSR|forced collectivization]] in several regions of the Soviet Union in the early 1930s.

Lysenko considered how he might use his work to convert [[winter wheat]] into spring wheat. In 1927, Lysenko embarked on the research that would lead to his 1928 paper on vernalization, which drew wide attention because of its potential practical implications for [[Soviet agriculture]]. Severe cold and lack of winter snow had destroyed many early winter-wheat seedlings. By treating [[wheat]] seeds with moisture as well as cold, Lysenko induced them to bear a crop when planted in spring. Lysenko coined the term "Jarovization" (яровизация) to describe this chilling process, which he used to make the seeds of winter cereals behave like spring cereals. (Because spring cereals are called ''Jarovoe'' in Russian – from ''jarovój'', an archaic adjective meaning spring, especially in relation to crops). However, this method had already been known by farmers since the 1800s, and had been discussed in detail by [[Gustav Gassner]] in 1918. Lysenko himself translated Jarovization as "vernalization" (from the Latin ''vernum'' meaning Spring).<ref name="Graham">{{cite book |last=Graham |first=Lo-ren R. |url=https://archive.org/details/moscowstories00grah |title=Moscow Stories |date=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-25-30007-43 |location=Bloomington, Indiana |pages=[https://archive.org/details/moscowstories00grah/page/120 120]–25, 290|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Chouard |first=P. |title=Vernalization and its relations to dormancy |journal=Annual Review of Plant Physiology |date=1960 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=191–238 |doi=10.1146/annurev.pp.11.060160.001203}}</ref> Lysenko's claims for increased yields were based on plantings over a few hectares, and he believed that the vernalized transformation could be inherited, that the offspring of a vernalized plant would themselves possess the capabilities of the generation that preceded it{{snd}}that it too would be able to withstand harsh winters or imperfect weather conditions.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Amasino |first=R.|title=Vernalization, competence, and the epigenetic memory of winter |journal=The Plant Cell |date=2004 |volume=16 |issue=10 |pages=2553–2559 |doi=10.1105/tpc.104.161070 |pmid=15466409|pmc=520954|bibcode=2004PlanC..16.2553A }}</ref>

===Work in Odessa===
In October 1929, Lysenko was invited by the People's Commissariat of Ukraine<ref name="Soifer"/> to [[Odessa]], to the newly formed {{ill|Breeding and Genetics Institute|ru|Селекционно-генетический институт}} (later the All-Union Breeding and Genetics Institute, or VSGI) where he headed the laboratory for vernalization of plants.<ref name="Voinov"/> People's Commissar of Agriculture of the Ukrainian SSR [[Alexander Schlichter]] reacted to Lysenko's ideas with enthusiasm and actively supported him.<ref>{{cite web | title=Н. И. Вавилов и Т. Д. Лысенко в пространстве историко-научных дискуссий • Библиотека | website=«Элементы» | url=https://elementy.ru/nauchno-populyarnaya_biblioteka/434829/N_I_Vavilov_i_T_D_Lysenko_v_prostranstve_istoriko_nauchnykh_diskussiy | language=ru | access-date=2024-05-12}}</ref> On 17 April 1936, he was appointed director of the VSGI.<ref name="Voinov"/>

In September 1931, the All-Ukrainian Breeding Conference adopted a resolution on a report by Lysenko, in which he noted the theoretical and practical significance of his work on vernalization. In October of the same year, a similar resolution was adopted by the All-Union Conference on Combating Drought.<ref name="Voinov"/> In 1933, he began experiments on summer planting potatoes in the south.<ref name="Voinov"/> In 1934, he was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR.<ref name="Voinov"/> In the same year, [[Ivan Michurin (biologist)|Ivan Michurin]], speaking about the results of his scientific activities in his book ''Results of Sixty Years of Work'', mentioned Lysenko’s activities in studying the [[photoperiodism]] of field cereals.<ref>{{cite web | title=Из итогов работы 1934 года | website=И.В.Мичурин «Итоги шестидесятилетних работ» | url=https://imichurin.narod.ru/Itogi60/part_3_1934.htm | language=ru | access-date=2024-05-12}}</ref> On 30 December 1935, Lysenko was awarded the [[Order of Lenin]] and elected a full member of the [[VASKhNIL|Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences]].<ref name="Voinov"/>

===After Odessa and first confrontation with geneticists===
In August 1936, at a visiting session of the grain section of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences in [[Omsk]], Lysenko made a report "On intravarietal crossing of self-pollinating plants," in which he entered into a discussion with Vavilov and other geneticists. In this discussion, Lysenko denied both the general theoretical views of his opponents and their practical implementation in breeding work. In particular, Lysenko denied the method of [[inbreeding]] field crops.<ref>{{cite web | title=Т.Д.Лысенко «О внутрисортовом скрещивании растений самоопылителей», 1936 г. | website=Лысенкоизм.Народ.Ру | date=2012-11-20 | url=https://lysenkoism.narod.ru/lysenko_o_vnutrisortovom_skr_samoop.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116003617/http://lysenkoism.narod.ru/lysenko_o_vnutrisortovom_skr_samoop.htm | archive-date=2009-01-16 | url-status=live | language=ru | access-date=2024-05-13}}</ref>

The discussion continued on 23 December 1936 at the 4th session of the All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, where Lysenko made a report "On two directions in genetics" (published in the collection ''Agrobiology'' by Lysenko). Lysenko, together with [[Isaak Prezent]], referred to the opinion of [[Charles Darwin]] and [[Kliment Timiryazev]] on the issue of degeneration of self-pollinating plants and the usefulness of intra-varietal cross-pollination of plants.<ref name="Voinov"/>

In the spring of 1937, the journal ''Yarovizatsiya'', founded and edited by Lysenko, published a speech by the head of the agricultural department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, [[Yakov Yakovlev]] (No. 2), where Vavilov's theory of homological series of plant variability and the chromosomal theory of heredity were sharply criticized.{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=55}} The scientific discussion on genetics in the Soviet Union was transformed into a political struggle against "the enemies of the people."{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=52}} Issue 3 of ''Yarovizatsiya'' published an article by Prezent, in which he accused geneticists of the classical school of supporting the [[Left Opposition|Trotskyist]]-[[Right Opposition|Bukharinist]] opposition, and an article by {{ill|Alexander Kohl|ru|Александр Карлович Коль}} that accused Vavilov of being a reactionary saboteur.{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=53}} The 7th International Genetic Congress in Moscow in 1937 was canceled and instead took place in 1939 in [[Edinburgh]].{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=52}}

On 11 January 1938, the newspaper ''Sotszemledeliye'' published an article titled “Improve the Academy of Agricultural Sciences: Ruthlessly uproot enemies and their rumps from scientific institutions,” where Vavilov, [[Mikhail Zavadovsky]], and {{ill|Pyotr Konstantinov|ru|Константинов, Пётр Никифорович}} were indicated as accomplices of the enemies of the people.{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=59}}

In 1938, Lysenko became president of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences.{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=58}} At the beginning of 1939, ''Yarovizatsiya'' published an article by Prezent "On pseudoscientific theories and genetics", in which Prezent compared the works of Vavilov with those of the anti-Marxist philosopher [[Eugen Dühring]].{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=59}} In the same year, the journal ''Pod znamenem marksizma'' held a discussion on genetics. At the conclusion of this discussion, its organizer, philosopher [[Mark Mitin]], sharply criticized the activities of Vavilov.{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=71}}

In 1939, According to official data, by changing the agricultural technology of millet, Lysenko increased the yield of millet from 2-3 to 15 centners per hectare.<ref name="Voinov"/> On 13 December 1942, at a session of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lysenko argued that "in 1940, millet on millions of hectares had already become the highest-yielding grain crop" and called for "a turn towards millet." Lysenko proposed a system of spring cultivation for grain, which made it possible to clear the soil of weeds before sowing, and then sow with vernalized seeds.<ref>{{cite web | title=Т.Д.Лысенко «Ближайшие задачи советской сельскохозяйственной науки», 1942 г. | website=Лысенкоизм.Народ.Ру | url=https://lysenkoism.narod.ru/lysenko_blizh_zadachi_dec_1942.htm | language=ru | access-date=2024-05-14}}</ref>

In mid-1940, by Lysenko's order, [[NKVD]] employee S. N. Shundenko was appointed deputy director of the All-Union Research Institute of Plant Industry, despite the categorical protest of Vavilov, who wrote denunciations of the institute's workers.{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=77}} In August 1940, Vavilov was arrested; following this, Vavilov's employees and friends, [[Georgii Karpechenko]], [[Grigory Levitsky]], {{ill|Leonid Govorov (scientist)|lt=Leonid Govorov|ru|Говоров, Леонид Ипатьевич}}, and {{ill|Konstantin Flaksberger|ru|Фляксбергер, Константин Андреевич}}, were arrested and died in custody.{{sfn|Medvedev|1969|p=77}}

=== Tree planting ===
As part of Stalin's [[Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature]], Lysenko was involved in advising tree planting. He suggested that planting of trees need to be done in "nests". He claimed that when trees were planted at high densities their survival improved because they fought together against weeds and pooled their energy to benefit one shoot while sacrificing others in the nest. To encourage oak seedlings to fight collectively he had a central hole and found holes around them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brain |first=Stephen |date=2010-10-01 |title=The Great Stalin Plan for the Transformation of Nature |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/envhis/emq091 |journal=Environmental History |language=en |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=670–700 |doi=10.1093/envhis/emq091 |issn=1084-5453}}</ref>

===World War II===
During World War II, Lysenko, along with many biologists, was evacuated to Omsk, where he continued to work on agricultural technology for grain crops and potatoes. From 1942, Lysenko was a member of the [[Extraordinary State Commission|Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Сроку давности не подлежит | date=2009-07-13 | url=http://www.molodguard.ru/heroes122.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013070425/http://www.molodguard.ru/heroes122.htm | archive-date=2010-10-13 | url-status=live | language=ru | access-date=2024-05-13}}</ref>

On 22 March 1943, Lysenko received the [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]] of the first degree "for the scientific development and introduction into agriculture of a method of planting potatoes with the tops of food tubers."<ref name="Voinov"/> On 3 June 1943, at a ceremonial meeting of the Soviet Academy of Sciences dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kliment Timiryazev, Lysenko made a report: "K. A. Timiryazev and the tasks of our agrobiology."<ref name="Voinov"/><ref>{{cite web | title=Т.Д.Лысенко «Ближайшие задачи советской сельскохозяйственной науки», 1942 г. | website=Лысенкоизм.Народ.Ру | date=2009-10-24 | url=https://lysenkoism.narod.ru/lysenko_timiryazev_1943.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106083508/http://lysenkoism.narod.ru/lysenko_timiryazev_1943.htm | archive-date=2009-01-06 | url-status=live | language=ru | access-date=2024-05-13}}</ref> In 1943, the first edition of Lysenko's collection was published, titled ''Agrobiology: Work on genetics, breeding and seed production''.<ref name="Voinov"/>

On 10 June 1945, Lysenko was awarded the title of [[Hero of Socialist Labor]] with the [[Order of Lenin]], "for outstanding services in the development of agricultural science and increasing the productivity of agricultural crops, especially potatoes and millet."<ref name="Voinov"/> On 10 September 1945, Lysenko was awarded the Order of Lenin "for the successful completion of the government's task in difficult war conditions to provide the front and the country’s population with food, and industry with agricultural raw materials."<ref name="Voinov"/>

===Post-war===
In 1946, Lysenko wrote an article titled "Genetics" for the 3rd edition of the Agricultural Encyclopedia.<ref name="Voinov"/> The article extensive quoted and criticized [[Thomas Hunt Morgan]]'s article "Heredity," published in the United States in 1945 in the American Encyclopedia, and describes features of "Michurinist genetics." The article was included in the ''Agrobiology'' collection. A similar article was published in the second edition of the [[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Генетика (БСЭ) | website=Т.Лысенко | date=2007-03-19 | url=https://lysenkoism.narod.ru/lgen.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103054913/http://lysenkoism.narod.ru/lgen.htm | archive-date=2009-01-03 | url-status=live | language=ru | access-date=2024-05-13}}</ref>

====August 1948 session of VASKhNIL====
[[File:1948-VASHNIL.jpg|thumb|Verbatim report of the 1948 VASKhNIL session]]
On 10 April 1948, [[Yuri Zhdanov]], who considered the complaints of scientists against Lysenko, made a report at the Polytechnic Museum at a seminar of regional party committee lecturers on the topic "Controversial issues of modern Darwinism." Lysenko himself listened to the Zhdanov's critical speech over a loudspeaker in another room, since he was denied a ticket to the report.<ref>{{cite web | title=1948. Письмо Лысенко Сталину и Жданову / Письмо Лысенко Бенедиктову | website=Лысенкоизм.Народ.Ру | url=https://lysenkoism.narod.ru/lstal.htm | language=ru | access-date=2024-05-14}}</ref>

From 31 July to 7 August 1948, a Session of the [[VASKhNIL|All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences]] (VASKhNIL) took place, at which most of the speakers supported Lysenko’s biological views and pointed to the "practical successes" of specialists of the "Michurinist movement."<ref name="Voinov"/><ref name="washniil"/>

At the session, Lysenko presented erroneous views on genetics (denial of [[Mendelian inheritance#Law of Segregation of genes|Mendel's law of segregation]], denial of immutable "genes"), as well as politicized statements addressed to opponents (for example, [[Thomas Hunt Morgan|Morgan]]'s genetics was credited with justifying racism, [[eugenics]], and serving the interests of the militaristic [[bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] class).<ref name="washniil"/>