Trofim Lysenko Biography

Trofim Lysenko has been one of the most controversial experimentalists of all times. He has reigned over the Soviet biology for decades and established his theories to improve agricultural productivity. Trofim was a follower of horticulture exponent Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, and gained much recognition for his denouncement of the Mendelian Genetics and formulating ‘Lysenkoism-Michurinism’. His research on plant breeding proved beneficial to Soviet agricultural which had suffered much loss on account of extreme cold weather conditions as well as scarcity of winter snow. Lysenko devised a method to make winter-wheat seeds productive in spring. This method was initially called Jarovization. This method was later on termed as Vernalization, and the fact that this process was not new and had been used by peasants since decades earned this famous scientist a great deal of criticism. However, his scientific research helped him gain the support of politician Joseph Stalin and this paved the way for his success in the field of biology. He had influenced Stalin by his experiments which certainly helped him climb the ladder of success and rule the Soviet genetics for a long period of time. Eventually, he lost his hold as other scientists emerged with new theories and rendered his theories untrue. Read on to know more about the life and works of this renowned agronomist