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Lysenko’s Ghost
Epigenetics and Russia
-
Loren Graham
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2016
About this book
Lysenko became one of the most notorious figures in twentieth-century science after his genetic theories were discredited decades ago. Yet some scientists now claim that discoveries in epigenetics prove that he was right after all. Loren Graham reopens the case, to determine whether new developments in molecular biology validate Lysenko’s claims.
Author / Editor information
Graham Loren :
Loren Graham is Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Reviews
The ways that politics, religion, cultural norms, and ideologies of all kinds distort science is at the heart of Lysenko’s Ghost. Those ideologies can alter our interpretation of facts and reshape our understanding of natural events.
-- Maggie Koerth-Baker Technology Review
-- Maggie Koerth-Baker Technology Review
Graham has delivered an account of one of the most infamous and important, yet least-known episodes in twentieth-century science—one on which he is the leading scholar.
-- Edward O. Wilson
-- Edward O. Wilson
This book adds valuable new insights into the current debates concerning elements of the newly emerging field of epigenetics and its connections to the older debates about the inheritance of acquired characteristics, especially in the context of Russia and the theories of Lysenko. Graham is in command of the materials throughout and in many cases he is one of the few who knows the materials at hand.
-- Everett Mendelsohn, Harvard University
-- Everett Mendelsohn, Harvard University
A thoughtful, historically grounded, and engaging commentary on current Russian perspectives on Lysenko and his legacy in the context of recent developments in epigenetics and Russian politics and culture.
-- Daniel Todes, Johns Hopkins University
-- Daniel Todes, Johns Hopkins University
Graham’s book is a timely and important antidote to the idea that everything that is not mainstream heredity is Lysenkoism.
-- Maurizio Meloni Science
-- Maurizio Meloni Science
[Graham’s] survey of the terrifying milieu in which Lysenko thrived includes a discussion of the eugenics movement in the Soviet Union, and the short book thus encompasses two major types of threat to the integrity of scientific inquiry: institutional interference from without and political infection from within. The latter threat, in particular, is ever present…Graham’s survey of Lysenkoism and eugenics in Soviet Russia contains important lessons about threats to the health of science.
-- Nicholas Wade Wall Street Journal
-- Nicholas Wade Wall Street Journal
Graham offers a sweeping history of the concept of inheritance of acquired characteristics as it shaped, and was shaped by, philosophy and politics in the 19th and 20th century. The book highlights how the scientific process can be imperiled when political objectives—here, Lysenko’s goals for demonstrating that environmental conditions can induce heritable biological change—are prioritized over experimental design and data analysis.
-- D. P. Genereux Choice
-- D. P. Genereux Choice
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Frontmatter
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Contents
ix -
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Introduction
1 -
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1. The Friendly Siberian Foxes
6 -
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2. The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
14 -
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3. Paul Kammerer, Enfant Terrible of Biology
33 -
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4. The Great Debate about Human Heredity in 1920s Russia
49 -
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5. Lysenko Up Close
68 -
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6. Lysenko’s Biological Views
82 -
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7. Epigenetics
101 -
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8. The Recent Rebirth of Lysenkoism in Russia
109 -
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9. Surprising Effects of the New Lysenkoism
123 -
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10. Anti - Lysenko Russian Supporters of the Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
135 -
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Conclusion
139 -
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Notes
147 -
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Bibliography
169 -
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Acknowledgments
195 -
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Index
201
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
April 11, 2016
eBook ISBN:
9780674969025
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
200
Other:
28 halftones
eBook ISBN:
9780674969025
Audience(s) for this book
College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
