Heredity and Its Variability

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The classic of Stalinist aberrant genetic theory, horticulturist Lysenko rejected orthodox genetics in favor of the theories of those of the Russian horticulturist I. V. Michurin (d. 1935). Among his theories were that wheat raised under certain conditions produce seeds of rye and that theoretical biology must be fused with Soviet agricultural practice. He was the total autocrat of Soviet biology from 1948 through 1953, and believed that through inherited characteristics Stalinism would create a 'new man'. Lysenko held that heredity can be changed by husbandry, a theory that had disastrous impact on Soviet agriculture. He was dismissed from his post as director of the Soviet Institute of Genetics.