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Lysenko Affair | Encyclopedia.com
LYSENKO AFFAIR."THE BAREFOOT PROFESSOR"LYSENKO'S RISETHE DEFEAT OF SOVIET GENETICSBIBLIOGRAPHY Source for information on Lysenko Affair: Encyclopedia of Modern Europe: Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction dictionary.
In the Soviet Union, and scientist named Lysenko rose to prominence within the the field of science. His method was not based on the scientific process, rather, his method was to politicize his findings. He essentially grabbed the ears of the political leaders at that time who shared his passion and zeal for the communist party, and demonized his scientific detractors as Westernized and corrupt.
What is amazing is, his scientific theories were baseless, and led to horrible outcomes regarding such things as crop failure for decades throughout the former USSR, yet even though this theories applied time and again failed, he still was able to maintain party approval and a continuation of his policies. Any detractors of Lysenko were censored and chastised, thus his power was secured no matter the failings of his theories put into practice.
Looking at the state of science today, we see many similarities to Lysenko and party politics as detractors of the scientific status quo are silenced on social media and other outlets. Politics and science now go hand in hand with such issues as climate change, gender identity, and using cloth masks for a virus that will not be stopped by the mask.
Lysenkoism refers to the process by which the Soviet state and Communist Party supported Lysenko's views and silenced his detractors. Lysenkoism became emblematic of all that was wrong with Soviet science policies and a cautionary tale about the detrimental effect political leaders can have on the development of science. I think the term should be used for much of what we see today in science.