Lysenko's pseudo-genetics ruled Soviet agriculture for 30 years

Trofim Lysenko, a Soviet agronomist, rejected Mendelian genetics and promoted 'vernalization' — the idea that acquired characteristics could be inherited. His theories were scientifically baseless, but they aligned with Marxist-Leninist ideology (the environment shapes the organism, not genes), and Stalin endorsed them.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, Lysenko's policies dominated Soviet agriculture. Geneticists who opposed him were dismissed, imprisoned or executed. Soviet biology was set back decades, and agricultural policies based on Lysenko's theories contributed to crop failures and food shortages.

Lysenko's fall came after Stalin's death, when Soviet scientists were finally able to challenge his theories. He was removed from his positions in the 1960s. The case illustrated how political ideology can override scientific evidence, and how the suppression of dissent in science has consequences that extend far beyond the laboratory — into fields, harvests and lives.