Trofim Lysenko

Soviet agronomist who rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of an ideologically acceptable pseudo-biology — and whose dominance over Soviet biology (enforced by Stalin) contributed to agricultural failures and the persecution of genuine geneticists.

Lysenkoism as political science: Lysenko's core claims: acquired characteristics can be inherited (Lamarckism); genetics is 'bourgeois pseudoscience'; crops can be trained to grow in harsh conditions through vernalization. These claims aligned with Soviet ideology (nature is malleable; humans can transform the world; class background shapes biology) but contradicted established genetics. With Stalin's backing, Lysenko controlled Soviet biology from 1948-1964 — genuine geneticists were imprisoned or killed, and the resulting agricultural policies contributed to Soviet food production failures. Lysenkoism became the standard example of what happens when political ideology overrides scientific method.