November 23, 2009 | Bronx Community College
Bronx, NY – Bronx Community College (BCC), The City University of New York Graduate Center, and Columbia University professors are hosting an international conference on Lysenkoism on Friday and Saturday, December 4 and 5, at the CUNY Graduate Center and the Harriman Institute at Columbia University.
The forthcoming conference addresses the long-running debate about the scientific value, ethics and reputation of Trofim Denisovich Lysenko, the powerful Stalinist director of the Soviet Lenin All-Union Institute of Agricultural Sciences. The influence of Lysenko and his followers on Soviet biology was known as “Lysenkoism.” It resulted in a set of repressive political and social campaigns in science and agriculture, which began in the late 1920s and formally ended in 1964.
On December 4, the conference will be held at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Room 9204/9205. On December 5, the conference will be held at Columbia University in the International Affairs Building, Room 1501.
“This conference is the first ever to be devoted to describing and probing the impact of, and response to, the ban on genetic research launched by Trofim Denisovich Lysenko in Soviet-allied states during the Cold War,” according to BCC History Professor William deJong-Lambert. “It will be a unique opportunity for scholars to begin collaborating to create a history of how the Lysenko affair impacted biology research, and contemporary understanding of the history of evolution, worldwide. We are hoping the conference will result in an edited collection to share our findings, and lay the groundwork for future research.”
BCC Professor deJong-Lambert is organizing the event with the support of City University of New York Vice Chancellor Gillian Small; Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs Brian Schwartz; Graduate Center/Lehman College Associate Professor Joe Dauben; as well as the former and current directors of the Columbia University Harriman Institute, Catharine Nepomnyashchy and Timothy Frye. Scholars have been invited from across the U.S. and from nine countries.
Trofim Denisovich Lysenko, a previously unknown agronomist until 1928, claimed to have developed an agricultural technique, termed vernalization, which tripled or quadrupled crop yield by exposing wheat seed to high humidity and low temperature.
The vernalization technique claimed to enhance yields by increasing the intensity of exposure. In reality, the technique was neither new (it was known since 1854, and was extensively studied during the previous 20 years), nor did it produce the yields he promised.
Soviet mass media helped promote Lysenko’s popularity, providing him a platform to denounce theoretical genetics and to promote his own agricultural practices. He was, in turn, supported by the Soviet propaganda machine, which overstated his successes and omitted mention of his failures. Instead of making controlled experiments, Lysenko relied upon questionnaires given to farmers claiming that vernalization increased wheat yields by 15%.
Partially on the basis of these claims, Lysenko was admitted into the hierarchy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and was put in charge of agricultural affairs. He used his position to denounce biologists as “fly-lovers and people haters,” and to decry the “wreckers” in biology, whom he claimed were trying to purposely disable the Soviet economy and cause it to fail. He furthermore denied the distinction between theoretical and applied biology.
An enthusiastic advocate of the Soviet Union and Leninism, Lysenko came into notoriety during a period which saw a series of man-made disastrous agriculture collectivization efforts in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was also extremely fast in responding to problems, although not with real solutions.
Whenever the Party announced plans to plant a new crop or cultivate a new area, Lysenko had immediate practical suggestions on how to proceed. So quickly did he develop his prescriptions — from the cold treatment of grain, to the cluster planting of trees, to unusual fertilizer mixes — that academic biologists did not have time to demonstrate that one technique was valueless or harmful before a new one was adopted. The Party-controlled newspapers inevitably applauded Lysenko’s “practical” efforts and questioned the motives of his critics. Lysenko’s “revolution in agriculture” had a powerful propaganda advantage over the academics, who urged the patience and observation required for science.
Scholars who have been invited include:
Frances Bernstein, Drew University
Stephen Brain, Mississippi State University
Jonathan Brent, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Luis Campos, Drew University
Francesco Cassata, University of Turin
Deborah Coen, Barnard College
Joe Dauben, CUNY Graduate Center
Michael Gordin, Princeton University
Loren Graham, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ekkehard Höxtermann, The Free University of Berlin
Daniel Kevles, Yale University
Eduard Kolchinsky, Director of St. Petersburg Branch of the S.I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, the Russian Academy of Sciences
Alexi Kouprianov, State University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg
Nikolai Krementsov, University of Toronto
Elena Levina, Institute for the History of Science and Technology Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Leo Molenaar, Stichting Huis van Erasmus
Miklos Muller, Rockefeller University
Catharine Nepomnyashchy, Barnard College, Harriman Institute
Quetzal Argueta Prado, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas de la Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo
Chris Robinson, Bronx Community College, CUNY
Nils Roll-Hansen, University of Oslo
Phillip Rothmaler, Bronx Community College, CUNY
Hirofumi Saito, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Laurence Schneider, Washington University, St. Louis
Alexander von Schwerin, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin
Rena Selya, Independent Scholar
Michal Simunek, Charles University, Prague
Jenny Smith, Georgia Institute of Technology
Bruno Strasser, Yale University
Arturo ArguetaVillamar, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Doug Weiner, Arizona State University
Audra Wolfe, University of Pennsylvania
Press, Radio, TV
Please call: Bryant Mason
Media Relations Specialist
(718) 289-5208
bryant.mason@bcc.cuny.edu
Founded in 1957, Bronx Community College (BCC), the oldest of City University of New York’s six community colleges, serves as the engine for academic and economic mobility for motivated students from diverse backgrounds and preparations. More than 10,500 students from over 109 nations are enrolled in 30 associate degree and certificate programs including Nursing, Radiologic Technology, Computer Graphics, Nuclear Medicine, and Business Administration, Digital Arts, Computer Information Systems, Education Associate, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology, Electronic Engineering Technology, Liberal Arts, Marketing, Accounting, Human Services, Media Technology and Paralegal Studies. BCC’s 43-acre campus, high above the Harlem River, features architectural masterpieces of Stanford White and Marcel Breuer, as well as the Hall of Fame of Great Americans, the nation’s first hall of fame. BCC President Carolyn G. Williams is in her 13th year of leadership service to the College, which is located on a 43-acre campus at 2155 University Avenue at West 181st Street , formerly New York University’s uptown campus until 1973.
The College is home to initiatives not commonly associated with two-year institutions, such as the Center for Sustainable Energy, which promotes the use of renewable and efficient energy technologies in urban communities. The National Center for Educational Alliances (NCEA) is currently collaborating with South African Further Education and Training Colleges and universities to create linkages between these institutions. NCEA also coordinates the College’s international initiatives and the annual International Education Week.
The Center has also facilitated a campus wide effort to create BCC’s Center for Tolerance and Understanding. The Center for Teaching Excellence offers faculty development to promote student achievement and to stimulate discussions to keep the teaching and learning process vital and dynamic. Take a look at BCC’s website at www.bcc.cuny.edu