LYSENKOISM IN POLISH BOTANY

• Authors: Koehler P.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Lysenkoism was a marginal phenomenon in Polish botany. There were only 55 botanists who published studies in Lysenkoism. Among them, there were only a few botanists who could boast of significant previous scientific achievements. A majority of the authors were young scientists. There were ca. 140 Lysenkoist botanical publications (out of the total of 3410), i.e. 4.1% of all the botanical publications in Poland in that period. Among the Lysenkoist publications, a significant group was made up of papers popularizing the principles and achievements of Lysenkoism. There were less studies presenting the results of research conducted in Poland on the basis of Lysenko's theory. A great majority of Polish botanists (ca. 96%), dealt with research topics that did not require direct references to Lysenkoism. A number of botanists, who did not want to be exposed to harassment, avoided explicit endorsements of the theory or, whenever possible, used the 'shield' of Soviet science. This consisted in using quotations from the classics of Marxism and Lysenkoism, both in papers delivered at conferences and in written publications. Other botanists (very few in number) took a hostile stand on Lysenkoism. The consequences for a university professor included being deprived of one's chair and being banned from publishing. Due to the censorship activities only isolated studies engaging in polemic with Lysenkoism, or trying to show the fallaciousness of its tenets, appeared in the first half of the 1950s. The content of publications was also affected by editors and editorial boards: as a result of their intervention, authors were forced to include obligatory quotations from the classics of Marxism and Lysenkoism in theirto be completed

Keywords

EN

BOTANY IN POLAND (20TH C.); IDEOLOGY AND SCIENCE; LYSENKOISM

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Instytut Historii Nauki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 53
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 83-161
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Koehler P.

• P. Koehler, Uniwersytet Jagiellonski, Instytut Botaniki, ul. Kopernika 27, 31-501 Kraków, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

08PLAAAA05039580