Lysenko, Trofim Denisovich, << lih SEHNG koh, trah FEEM deh NEE so vihch >> (1898-1976), was the most important biologist in the Soviet Union from the mid-1930’s to the late 1950’s. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin supported Lysenko’s theories for improving farm production because they promised quick success. However, Lysenko’s theories did not lead to agricultural improvements, and later Soviet leaders blamed them for slowing the growth of the country’s agriculture. Lysenko held back Soviet research in genetics (the science of heredity) for more than 20 years.
Lysenko believed that new species of crops could be created from the old species by altering the crops’ environment (surroundings). The resulting changes would be passed to the next generation, and create improved breeds, better adjusted to the conditions of their environment. Lysenko said, in effect, that organisms could be “trained” to change. He rejected the idea that units called genes determine heredity. His ideas have been rejected by present-day biologists.
Lysenko was born in Karlovka in southwest Russia (now Karlivka, Ukraine) in September 1898. His parents were farmers. He died on Nov. 20, 1976.
