One of the strangest dramas in the history of science came to an end last week. Trofim Denisovich Lysenko, dictator of Soviet geneticists and symbol of Stalin's attitude toward science, was kicked out of the presidency of the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
During the first decade after the Russian revolution. Soviet genetics enjoyed a golden age. Lenin recognized clearly that genetics is no theory; it is a well-proved science whose techniques are enormously superior to the hit-or-miss methods used by pre-genetic plant-and-animal breeders. Russia needed more food, so Lenin gave Soviet...
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