How One Soviet Pseudoscientist Starved Millions: The Tragedy of Lysenkoism
Jun 22, 2025
#ColdWar #TheColdWar #USSR
Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a deeper look at Trofimov Lysenko, a Soviet agronomist who's pseudoscientific ideas gained traction due to their ideological alignment with the Soviet regime, resulting in the deaths of millions.
21:20
*SOURCES*
Kean, Sam. “The Soviet Era’s Deadliest Scientist Is Regaining Popularity in Russia.” The Atlantic, December 19, 2017.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/a...
Jerry A. Coyne, Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible (Penguin Random House, 2016)
Dr Vadim J. Birstein, The Perversion of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science (Basic Books, 2008)
William Dejong-Lambert and Nikolai Krementsov (eds.), The Lysenko Controversy as a Global Phenomenon, Volume I: Genetics and Agriculture in the Soviet Union and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017)
Michael Ellman, "Stalin and the Soviet Famine of 1932–33 Revisited," Europe-Asia Studies, Vol.59, No.4 (2007)
Loren R. Graham, Science in Russia and the Soviet Union: A Short History (Cambridge University Press, 1993)
Valeriĭ Soyfer, Lysenko and The Tragedy of Soviet Science (Rutgers University Press, 1994)