Trofim Lysenko, Ukrainian-Russian biologist and agronomist (d. 1976)
Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (Russian: Трофим Денисович Лысенко, IPA: [trɐˈfʲim dʲɪˈnʲisəvʲɪtɕ lɨˈsɛnkə]; Ukrainian: Трохим Денисович Лисенко, romanized: Trokhym Denysovych Lysenko, IPA: [troˈxɪm deˈnɪsowɪtʃ lɪˈsɛnko]; 29 September [O.S. 17 September] 1898 – 20 November 1976) was a Soviet agronomist and biologist. He was a strong proponent of Lamarckism, and he rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of pseudoscientific ideas later termed Lysenkoism.In 1940, Lysenko became director of the Institute of Genetics within the USSR's Academy of Sciences, and he used his political influence and power to suppress dissenting opinions and discredit, marginalize, and imprison his critics, elevating his anti-Mendelian theories to state-sanctioned doctrine.Soviet scientists who refused to renounce genetics were dismissed from their posts and left destitute. Hundreds if not thousands of others were imprisoned. Several were sentenced to death as enemies of the state, including the botanist Nikolai Vavilov. Lysenko's ideas and practices contributed to the famines that caused millions of Soviet people to lose their lives due to starvation; the adoption of his methods from 1958 in the People's Republic of China had similarly calamitous results, culminating in the Great Chinese Famine of 1959 to 1962.