Lysenko Up Close but Afar, or Focus on Lysenkoism from the 21st Century

Abstract

Two books recently published abroad by prominent historians of biology on Lysenkoism acknowledging the revival of interest in this phenomenon among the international scientific community are considered. The first book in two volumes, The Lysenko Controversy As a Global Phenomenon, edited by W. deJong-Lambert and N.L. Krementsov, combines modernized old and new approaches to the study and understanding of Lysenkoism. The author shows the merits of the two volumes, demonstrating the progress reached in recent years in works on this topic, and focuses on several drawbacks of the edition. The other book analyzed is L. Graham’s, Lysenko’s Ghost: Epigenetics and Russia. In this book T.D. Lysenko’s activities and their consequences for scientific culture in general and for contemporary Russian science in particular as well as some problems of Lysenkoism in the country’s current political context are considered. In the opinion of the reviewer, the polemical character of the book gives a serious reason for reflections on the fate of not only Russian science but also of the country.