Lysenko, Trofim D. (1898–1976)

A biologist and agronomist, Trofim Denisovich Lysenko was director of the Institute of Genetics in the Academy of Sciences in the Soviet Union under the regime of Joseph Stalin. To the public he was portrayed as a heroic example of the self-educated peasant. Although the theories he espoused were based largely on misunderstandings of genetics and scientific principles, the exercise of political influence and power enabled Lysenko to hold sway over biological research in the Soviet Union for decades. Lysenko's genetic theories rejected the theories of Gregor Mendel; they were the result of blending a superficial understanding of the theories of Jean Baptistede Lamarck with specific selections from Charles Darwin's theories that would support Lysenko's latest interpretations of inheritance.

Born near Poltava in the Ukraine, the son of a poor Russian farmer, Lysenko's first employment was as a gardener. In 1921, he studied at the Uman School of Horticulture. Shortly thereafter, he was chosen for the Belaya Tserkov Selection Station, and in 1925 he received a doctorate at the Kiev Agricultural Institute. Lysenko was highly interested in the theories of Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, who taught that the environment is directly responsible for the development of hybrids that are very different from their parents. By controlling the environment, a breeder can select the type of hybrid to be developed. Individuals are highly plastic and not limited to the genetics of their parents. The results are then under the authority of the breeder. Although Michurin claimed many successful results, no one else seemed able to replicate his outcomes.

[Page 798]While working at an agricultural experimental station in Azerbaijan in 1927, Lysenko came up with the idea that fields could be fertilized by planting a winter crop of field peas. The field peas would then provide livestock with forage through the winter. Lysenko claimed that the use of chemical fertilizer did little to improve crop yield. Chemical fertilizers were successful the first year, but failed in succeeding years in areas of poor soil fertility.

This was the beginning of a career that would last until 1964. Each of Lysenko's failures would be rapidly followed by a new stunning success by the “peasant genius,” as reported in the Soviet press.

In the Soviet Union, the long winters required that seeds survive long cold periods. Lysenko claimed that cooling the seeds before planting increased their strength and therefore the yield of the next crop. Lysenko selected spring wheat with a short “stage of vernalization” (exposure to cold) and a long “light stage,” which he then crossed with wheat of a longer stage of vernalization and a short light stage. This led to increased yields and new varieties of grain. Largely as a result of the adulatory reports of this experiment by the Soviet press, Lysenko became editor in 1935 of his own agricultural journal, called Vernalization. His failures were not reported but led rather to new claims of success. His only real success, however, was his popularity among Soviet farmers, who were unen-thusiastic about Soviet agriculture in the early 1930s. While most of his experiments ultimately hurt the Soviet farmer, because he was one of their own, his popularity remained intact. This served the needs of the Soviet government.

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