Marxist approach to agricultural science. Trofim D. Lysenko (1898-1976) attempted to reform Soviet agricultural practices during the 1930s and 1940s by utilizing a version of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck\u2019s theories. Lamarck\u2019s version of evolution rested on the idea that life starts out simple and then becomes more complex as environmental forces act on it. In the late 19th century, evolutionists looking for an alternative to Charles Darwin\u2019s theory of evolution through natural selection adopted some of Lamarck\u2019s ideas and formed a new theory, generally called neo- Lamarckianism. Neo-Lamarckianists suggested that an environment imposes shape and function on an otherwise passive organism; in other words, the creative element in evolution came from the environment and not from an individual animal or plant.<\/p>\n
In the 19th century, Austrian monk Gregor Mendel (1822-84) demonstrated through his research with plants that organisms actually pass on their characteristics through genetic mutation. Lysenko rejected Mendel\u2019s theory in favor of a neo-Lamarckian approach. He proposed to force desired changes that could be passed from one generation to the next by altering the environments of his subject plants. When his experiments failed to produce superior crop plants, he falsified data and solicited political support from Communist Party officials, including Josef Stalin. In 1940, Stalin named Lysenko to the directorship of the Institute of Genetics of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marxist approach to agricultural science. Trofim D. Lysenko (1898-1976) attempted to reform Soviet agricultural practices during the 1930s and 1940s by utilizing a version of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck\u2019s theories. Lamarck\u2019s version of evolution rested on the idea that life starts out simple and then becomes more complex as environmental forces act on it. In the late […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-l"],"yoast_head":"\n