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The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

jstor.org

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Re: The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

#11

Post by thriftwy »

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #9
christkv wrote: post #2

Reminds me of Lysenkoism where one mans delusions of science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism set back the discourse as it was enforced as state policy.

He was vindicated by modern science. His "delusions" were that epigenetics exist and are heritable. (His opponents took a polar, more hardline stance that only genetic information is relevant for phenotype expression.) See more here: https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=heritable%20epigene...

If only he did not resort to using political means instead of science to push his views, he could have been considered a visionary (like Vernadsky or Oparin).

Instead, he's just a criminal and a fraud.

Re: The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

#13

Post by simonh »

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #9
christkv wrote: post #2

Reminds me of Lysenkoism where one mans delusions of science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism set back the discourse as it was enforced as state policy.

He was vindicated by modern science. His "delusions" were that epigenetics exist and are heritable. (His opponents took a polar, more hardline stance that only genetic information is relevant for phenotype expression.) See more here: https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=heritable%20epigene...

>He was vindicated by modern science.

He denied that genetic heritability existed and that all characteristics were propagated epigenetically. That's hardly been vindicated. In practice his theories and practical policies were utterly disastrous.

It is true that since then we have found some mechanisms by which some traits can propagate epigenetically, but characterising that as vindicating Lysenkoism is absurd.

Re: The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

#14

Post by peace4all »

Note that in the USSR, political questions and false accusations were often used to torpedo career competitors or to have vengeance at those who were more successful. Almost nobody in this story or in other cases were political dissidents. They didn't go out to protest or speak up on the political freedoms or other matters.

Re: The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

#15

Post by QuadmasterXLII »

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #9
christkv wrote: post #2

Reminds me of Lysenkoism where one mans delusions of science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism set back the discourse as it was enforced as state policy.

He was vindicated by modern science. His "delusions" were that epigenetics exist and are heritable. (His opponents took a polar, more hardline stance that only genetic information is relevant for phenotype expression.) See more here: https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=heritable%20epigene...

thats the difference between science and other realms of human knowledge: it doesn’t matter how you can spin his words, because his theory made inaccurate predictions.

Re: The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

#16

Post by thesz »

simonh wrote: post #13
otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was vindicated by modern science. His "delusions" were that epigenetics exist and are heritable. (His opponents took a polar, more hardline stance that only genetic information is relevant for phenotype expression.) See more here: https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=heritable%20epigene...

>He was vindicated by modern science. He denied that genetic heritability existed and that all characteristics were propagated epigenetically. That's hardly been vindicated. In practice his theories and practical policies were utterly disastrous. It is true that since then we have found some mechanisms by which some traits can propagate epigenetically, but characterising that as vindicating Lysenkoism is absurd.

I believe he denied existence of genes, not heretability of traits.

Re: The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

#17

Post by hushpuppy »

peace4all wrote: post #14

Note that in the USSR, political questions and false accusations were often used to torpedo career competitors or to have vengeance at those who were more successful. Almost nobody in this story or in other cases were political dissidents. They didn't go out to protest or speak up on the political freedoms or other matters.

Glad we live in a era were accusations and rumors are not used as political weapons against individuals.

Re: The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

#18

Post by forgotmypw17 »

gardin1 wrote: post #6
gttalbot wrote: post #4

Paywalled

doi + scihub: https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.2307/2500602

is there a way to read this article on an iphone? sorry for my device with very limited abilities, i didn't choose it for myself.

the original article has some kind of banner over the content, and this link only shows the cover page for me.

Re: The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

#19

Post by ch4s3 »

hushpuppy wrote: post #17
peace4all wrote: post #14

Note that in the USSR, political questions and false accusations were often used to torpedo career competitors or to have vengeance at those who were more successful. Almost nobody in this story or in other cases were political dissidents. They didn't go out to protest or speak up on the political freedoms or other matters.

Glad we live in a era were accusations and rumors are not used as political weapons against individuals.

I don’t recall anyone being sent to work camps for criticizing government policy in the US recently.

Re: The 1936-1937 Purge of Soviet Astronomers (1991)

#20

Post by d0mine »

ch4s3 wrote: post #19
hushpuppy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glad we live in a era were accusations and rumors are not used as political weapons against individuals.

I don’t recall anyone being sent to work camps for criticizing government policy in the US recently.

McCarthyism? (it is not 30s like in the article but it is 40s-50s)
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