Lysenkoism

American  

[li-seng-koh-iz-uhm] / lɪˈsɛŋ koʊˌɪz əm /

noun

1. a genetic doctrine formulated by Lysenko and asserting that acquired characteristics are inheritable.

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Lysenkoism British  

/ lɪˈsɛŋkəʊˌɪzəm /

noun

1. a form of Neo-Lamarckism advocated by Lysenko, emphasizing the importance of the inheritance of acquired characteristics

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Etymology

Origin of Lysenkoism

1945–50; named after T. D. Lysenko; -ism

Example Sentences

Lysenkoism was around long enough that, to his eternal disgrace, the proponent of the bizarre theory of plant heritability got his name attached to it.

From Washington Post • Nov. 8, 2022

The Soviet Union rejected Lysenkoism by the 1970s, but Russian biology, having missed the revolution in genetics that swept the world during the intervening decades, has still not fully recovered.

From New York Times • Apr. 21, 2017

It shouldn’t take a return to Lysenkoism to increase female participation in the sciences, but even Doctor Princess can only encourage kids so much.

From Slate • Dec. 2, 2014

In 1948, Bernal debated against Polanyi on BBC radio, with Polanyi pointing to the suppression of science under Lysenkoism as evidence of the shortfalls of the state planning of science.

From Nature • Mar. 26, 2014

Nazism and Lysenkoism were based on dramatically opposed conceptions of heredity—but the parallels between the two movements are striking.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee