Lysenko is a genetic biologist. When it comes to heredity, we have to talk about biological evolution and Darwin.

Darwin's theory of species evolution is well known. The so-called "natural selection, survival of the fittest", the species is not created by God, but has experienced the process of evolution. These words are familiar to everyone.

However, it should be pointed out that the evolution theory of modern science is very different from Darwin's theory. There is no doubt about species evolution, but the following questions, "What is the speed of species evolution" and "What is the driving force of species evolution", are either unanswered by Darwin or the answers are very inconsistent with the later evidence.

Darwin Statue, sedgwick Museum of Geology and Paleontology, Cambridge, England.

Let's start with the question "What is the speed of species evolution?"

Darwin believed that the evolution of species occurred gradually, and some changes that were not obvious at first became bigger and bigger with the development of generations. When this change leads to reproductive isolation between the two groups of animals in the original population, new species appear.

This theory seems to be right. However, paleontologists sometimes look at the fossils of a species that have lasted for a long time in continuous strata, but they have not found any evidence of "significant changes in species". Sometimes tens of meters high cliffs are full of some kind of trilobites or ammonites, but the height difference of these tens of meters may represent the age difference of tens of millions of years. What's the trilobite at the bottom and what's at the top? Nothing has changed.

Therefore, Darwin's statement about the speed of species evolution may be wrong-species evolution is not gradual in many cases, and new species may be produced in a very short time and then remain unchanged for a long time.

The difference between gradual evolution and mutation-equilibrium evolution

This "mutation-stability" evolution model seems to be the mainstream of species evolution. Until now, the mainstream textbooks of paleontology have also adopted this statement. The "gradual change of species" is wrong in the macro time dimension.

Darwin's own answer about the speed of biological evolution at that time may be inappropriate. Darwin himself is vague about "what is the driving force of biological evolution" and "how does intergenerational change happen", at least he can't give a satisfactory answer.

This question is left to future generations to explore. As for the motive force of evolution, future generations are divided into two factions.

One school inherited the mantle of Mendel and Morgan. Mendel proved that biological inheritance is regular through his pea experiment, while Morgan introduced the theory of gene mutation in intergenerational inheritance through the experiment of Drosophila.

At that time, the scientific community did not know that the carrier of genetic information was DNA, but this school believed that genetic information was transmitted from generation to generation, and if there was a mutation in the transmission process, it was also produced in intergenerational inheritance.

Gregor Mendel (1June 20th, 822-1June 6th, 884)

Another school, represented by Lamarck and Michulin, advocates that the motive force of evolution and heredity comes from the interaction between biology and environment. Its core view is that a single organism and an organ, if used frequently, must develop, and such development will be passed on to future generations.

This view sounds reasonable, such as "if someone is tall, his offspring must be tall", such as "the giraffe's neck grows because it needs to eat leaves from tall trees", and so on.

"Acquired Heredity" Theory in Lamarckian Theory

Although Lamarck's theory has a great market in the eyes of the general public, it can't stand the scientific test.

At the beginning of the 20th century, some scientists did experiments to cut off the tail of mice, then let mice without tails breed, and then cut off the tail of the bred mice. After dozens of generations, the offspring of mice finally have tails, and there is no saying that "the organ changes of one generation are passed on to the next".

Under the test of practice, Lamarckian school is full of loopholes, but this school of genetics has won the strong support of Soviet officials.

Second, lysenko received official support from the Soviet Union.

The official support of the Soviet Union for Lamarckian Genetics School is caused by many factors.

First of all, the official revolutionary instructors of the Soviet Union firmly believe that their theory is a universal truth and can be used to explain and guide all phenomena. In this case, not only political and military work, but also culture, language and biology can fully apply Bolshevik truth.

Stalin once gave some instructions to the linguistic research of the former Soviet Union, saying that "language is not naturally formed in ethnic areas, but the product of class society". Is there any academic basis for this assertion? But what was Stalin's position in the Soviet Union at that time must be clear to everyone. Therefore, this conclusion on linguistics has become the guiding ideology of the relevant research in the former Soviet Union.

Of course, Stalin's will will never be satisfied with linguistics, but "to manage everything."

There is another important ideological reason why Soviet officials support Lamarckian school and oppose Mendel and Morgan in genetic biology, and that is their own desire for control.

According to Morgan's genetic theory, the variation of species is random and uncontrollable, which fundamentally contradicts the theory of German prophets. According to the German prophet, the development of everything, from the universe to biology and even human society, can be explained, and the fans of the German prophet "not only have to explain the world, but also transform it".

Such a philosophical view naturally does not allow "probability" and "randomness" to appear. Later, the philosophy of the German prophet developed several times at the top of the Soviet Union, and the final result was that "the will of the leader is absolutely beyond doubt". Such an idea is even less likely to leave a little room for "probability" and "randomness".

In this case, Morgan school can't be liked by Soviet officials, but Lamarckian school, which advocates "things inherit and evolve in development", is essentially consistent with Soviet official ideology and will naturally be favored by Soviet officials.

Lysenko himself appeared in the "right place" at the "right time", which fully embodies the bad saying that "a person's fate depends not only on personal struggle, but also on the historical process".

Third, the story of lysenko.

In this context, it becomes meaningful to tell the story of lysenko.

Lysenko (T.D. lysenko,1898-1976) was born in a Ukrainian peasant family. In the narration of the Soviets, such a background is bright red, which provided an essential foundation for his later prosperity.

Lysenko 1925 worked in a breeding station after graduating from Kiev Agricultural College. Four years later, lysenko's father happened to find that wheat seeds that spent the winter in the snow could mature before the first frost if they were sown in spring. On this basis, lysenko developed a breeding method called "vernalization treatment", that is, wetting and freezing seeds before sowing to accelerate their growth.

Lysenko is inspecting the ears of wheat (time 1920- 1930).

Speaking, this vernalization technology was not first discovered by lysenko and his son, but lysenko exaggerated his discovery as a panacea to solve the threat of frost. Therefore, the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture decided to set up a department specializing in vernalization in the Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetics in Odessa, and appointed lysenko to be in charge.

Of course, the so-called science, any theory put forward must stand the test of practice. Lysenko popularized this so-called vernalization technology, not relying on strict scientific experiments, but relying on exaggeration and falsification.

In fact, according to the declassified data, it is impossible for the seeds treated by vernalization to have higher yield, and this so-called vernalization has no convincing theoretical basis. Therefore, what lysenko did was naturally criticized by other scientists.

However, lysenko has a keen sense of smell in scientific thinking and political literacy (this keen sense of smell is essential for anyone in the Soviet-style society).

In the early 1930s, the core theory of western biogenetics was developed on the basis of Mendel-Morgan theory. Among them, American geneticist Mill discovered induced mutation, and he was also a leading figure in western biogenetics at that time.

Ironically, although Mill was in the United States, he still agreed with the Soviet theory in his heart. He thinks that the classical Mendelian genetics completely conforms to dialectical materialism. However, lysenko and Stalin disagreed with this view. Lysenko declared high-profile support for Lamarck and Michulin's theory, and called western geneticists enemies of the Soviet people.

Lysenko is on the battlefield.

At that time, Lamarck's genetic theory was unreliable, which was already the knowledge of western scientific community. Some scientists sharply questioned lysenko. If, according to your opinion, biological organs are put into use and discarded, and features are inherited, how do you explain that girls are born with hymens? Lysenko was speechless.

However, the western scientific community could not influence the will of the Soviet leaders. Although lysenko could not wipe out foreign rivals, it was still possible to wipe out domestic rivals.

Vavilov, president of the Soviet Academy of Agricultural Sciences, supported Mill's view. In lysenko's view, vavilov was not only his opponent, but also the enemy of the whole Soviet Union, so he raised the academic debate to the life-and-death struggle of the political line.

1935 14 In February, lysenko took advantage of Stalin's participation in the second collective farm commando congress in the whole Soviet Union and made a speech on "vernalization is a measure to increase production".

Lysenko said in his speech that the debate about biology is just like the debate about collectivization, and it is fighting against class enemies who try to obstruct the development of the Soviet Union. He claimed to be a scientist who opposed Chunhua's law: "Class enemies will always be class enemies whether he is in academia or not ...". Lysenko attacked academic intellectuals in a new way with self-denying comments, which was recognized by Stalin.

1935, lysenko made a speech in the Kremlin.

Although continuous experiments showed that vernalization did not improve wheat yield, it did not shake lysenko's victory. The original data of vernalization experiments were covered up, and the grain disaster in Ukraine was interpreted by Soviet officials as a "conspiracy of western capitalism". lysenko's position in the Soviet Union was not affected at all because of the famine in Ukraine.

More importantly, lysenko's vernalization experiment focused on agricultural production, and any behavior against lysenko was interpreted as soviet strike system and Soviet farmers with ulterior motives.

Lysenko's opponents began to face bad luck. Vavilov himself has been tirelessly collecting seeds, hoping to establish a seed bank, but one of his frustrated subordinates wrote to the top of the Soviet Union, accusing vavilov of reactionary separation of theory and practice, and suggesting that he stop collecting novelty and concentrate on studying plants that can be directly introduced into agricultural production.

Vavilov (1887 ~ 1943)

193 1 year, vavilov was forced by Soviet officials to complete some impossible tasks. 1934, he was called to the People's Committee to explain the separation of theory and practice in his research. This incident indicates that lysenko has completely won the trust of the Soviet authorities, and the fate of vavilov has turned for the better.

1940, vavilov was arrested and charged with "British spy". He was sentenced to death first, then to 20 years' imprisonment, and died of malnutrition in prison in 1943.

Even after the fire of the Soviet-German war, the seed bank he had been working on was still intact. Some people in later generations took it for granted that vavilov was virtuous and would rather die than use the grain in his own seed bank. In fact, this intentionally or unintentionally weakened the actions of lysenko and Soviet authorities during this period, and put all the blame on the "evil German fascists".

Vavilov is not the only scientist who is against lysenko.

When lysenko made his fortune, he was catching up with the Soviet Union's purge. Before vavilov was arrested, the losses of Soviet biologists were shocking. 1936, all * * producers working in the field of biological theory were publicly condemned as "public enemies" and arrested.

The accusation against scientists by the People's Internal Affairs Committee involves "Menshevik idealism" and its connection with Trotskyite conspiracy.

As for Levitt, director of the Institute of Medical Genetics, it is said that his research on human genetics made him an instigator of Nazism. In the end, Levitt died in prison, his research institute was closed and several Soviet scientists were shot.

1939, lysenko inspects crops.

As a result, the "reactionary forces" of the Soviet Union against lysenko suffered a great blow, and the Seventh International Congress on Genetics scheduled to be held in Moscow on August 1937 was cancelled. When the congress was indeed held in Edinburgh on 1939, no Soviet scientists were present, not even President-elect vavilov.

Compared with the tragedies of other Soviet scholars, lysenko's years are rich.

1935, lysenko was awarded the title of academician of Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and All-Soviet Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and became the director of Odessa Institute of Plant Genetics and Breeding. Scientists who oppose lysenko can't say no. Some people implicitly supported vavilov, who was ousted by lysenko. However, more and more people give in under pressure, criticize themselves and acknowledge lysenko's extraordinary wisdom.

According to lysenko, there is a life-and-death struggle between his own biology and vavilov's biology, just like "the struggle between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks". As soon as this statement comes out, any opposition can only be defeated if it is not shut up. Therefore, lysenko's theory became the guiding ideology of Soviet biology during World War II.

During World War II, Soviet scientists made great contributions to national defense and their influence increased greatly. Some people therefore hope to relax their control over scientists after the war.

1947, Soviet biologist Sima Haosen published an article explicitly criticizing lysenkoism in the main philosophical journals of the Soviet Union. 1948, Yuri Zhdanov (Stalin's son-in-law), the official in charge of science in the central government at that time, accepted several complaints from Soviet biologists to the central government, arguing that it was wrong for lysenko to deny Mendel's genetics. Zhdanov criticized lysenko in his subsequent report.

However, at this time, lysenko and have it both ways's skills have been perfected. He saw Stalin's weakness of never allowing himself to make mistakes and sought Stalin's support to succeed again.

Lysenko at the "August meeting"

1In August, 948, the Soviet Union held a meeting of the all-Soviet Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences (also known as the "August meeting") attended by more than a thousand people. Lysenko made a report on the current situation of biological science at the conference. He summarized all his "new theories" and "new opinions" as the main contents of "Michulin Biology", claiming that "Michulin Biology" is "socialist", "progressive", "materialistic" and "proletarian". Mendel-Morgan genetics is reactionary, idealistic, metaphysical and bourgeois.

With Stalin's approval, orthodox genetics in the Soviet Union was banned. Lysenko announced at the conference that this meeting "scientifically eliminated the Mendel-Morgan-weismann Doctrine, which is a complete victory of Morganism, a historic milestone and a great festival".

The "August meeting" caused great damage to the genetics of the Soviet Union. It is forbidden to teach Morgan genetics in colleges and universities; All non-lysenkoism research projects in scientific research institutions have stopped; A large number of research institutions and laboratories have been closed, cancelled or reorganized; It is reported that in 1948, more than 3,000 geneticists in the Soviet Union lost their jobs in universities and scientific research institutions and were persecuted to varying degrees.

Lysenko once said that grafting crops can improve the heritability of domestic animals.

The bad influence of "August Meeting" even spread to many countries in the Eastern Group, including China. "August meeting" made lysenko reach the pinnacle of "career". Lysenko's personal victory is undoubtedly a scientific tragedy.

Lysenko remained in power until Stalin died. 1953 After Stalin's death on March 5, the cultural life of the Soviet Union was thawed. At the end of 1955, more than 300 famous Soviet scientists jointly wrote to the highest authorities of the Soviet Union, demanding that lysenko be dismissed as the president of the All-Soviet Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

1956 February, after the 20th Congress of the Soviet Union, Stalin's personality cult was criticized, and lysenko was forced to resign due to the situation, which was approved by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.

However, although Khrushchev opposed Stalin, he only opposed Stalin himself. He inherited the "political control scholarship" during Stalin's period. What's more, if lysenko is wrong, wouldn't it prove that the Soviet Union has taken a detour in its construction for more than 20 years?

1958 12 14, Pravda published an editorial, accusing scientists of arguing that a large number of scientists who opposed lysenko's species and "new ideas" were fired and a number of laboratories were closed.

196 1 year, lysenko was re-appointed as the president of the all-Soviet Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

1964 10, Khrushchev stepped down. At this time, because of lysenkoism, the gap between the biology of the Soviet Union and the advanced western countries is getting bigger and bigger, and lysenkoism was rejected by the Soviet Academy of Sciences. At this point, lysenko lost his monopoly position in the field of biology in the Soviet Union, and his influence in the Soviet Union finally came to an ignominious end.

Soviet genetics and science timetable

Lysenkoism failed to realize the Soviet Union's ideal of "bread will be there", but made their molecular biology and genetic engineering hopelessly backward, and the Soviet Union lost two generations of modern biologists.

While Soviet biologists were shivering under lysenko's arrogance, in the early 1950s, British and American scientists Watson and Crick discovered the DNA base sequence that really carried genetic information, thus opening a new era of biology.

From Mendel, Morgan to Watson Crick, the essence of biological inheritance and evolution is the mutation of genes from generation to generation. This view has been recognized by western academic circles, but lysenko's so-called "materialist biogenetics" was rarely mentioned after his death.

After the death of lysenko 1976, the western scientific community published a short obituary in the form of rhetorical question-Is lysenko a liar? The answer seems obvious.

4. What lessons can we learn?

Lysenko, an academic cheater, is not uncommon in countries like the Soviet Union. The stories of these academic swindlers have also taught people profound lessons. Any scientific research interfered by administrative forces has suspicious motives and achievements. This should be common sense.

In the history of Britain and the United States, such administrative intervention cannot be said to be absent, but in this respect, compared with the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States are somewhat similar to the FA Cup eighth-level league team Maritime League against Premier League giant Tottenham Hotspur, which is not an order of magnitude at all.

But I think the lysenko incident has inspired future generations far more than that.

Why can lysenko's School of Biology be favored by Soviet leaders? In the final analysis, it is the Soviet leaders who feel that they can explain everything and control everything.

Lysenko's school of biology is very pleasing because it excludes "probability" and "random events". There are always some people who feel that their will can completely influence the world. Lysenko's theory just provides academic support for this kind of people.

195 1 Application of lysenko Chunhua Law published by China Commercial Press.

In my opinion, the evolution of nature and the historical development of mankind are full of accidents. If the asteroid had deviated a little bit 65 million years ago, dinosaurs might still be alive and humans would not have been born.

If the reaction of countries after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, was a little calmer, the 20th century might be different. Similarly, it's hard to say what would have happened if Zidane hadn't lost his temper in the World Cup final.

Things like "probability" and "random events" may keep pace with the world and are not controlled by human will at all.

However, there are always some people who think that their theories can explain everything and solve all problems. They describe their ideas as science and their vision as "solving the world upside down", which seems to be a just and noble morality.

But for such a savior, no matter what he does, I must be vigilant.

Because in my cognition, "solving all problems" is impossible, and when such a savior can't justify himself, he will definitely kill his opponent, no matter what way.

Therefore, as long as the fantasy of Utopia and Savior exists, people like lysenko are likely to reappear sooner or later.