WINDOW ON RUSSIA
Sir,-If Ian S. Macdougall had taken the precaution of checking initials he would have found that the name of the great Russian botanist and geneticist he refers to was N. I. Vavilov, whilst that of the President of the Academy of Sciences, according to Mr. Macdougall himself, is S. I. Vavilov. Perhaps it was simpler to suspect Professor Ashby’s objectivity and fairness; yet it was Ashby — one of the few non-Russian scientists who have met the redoubtable Lysenko-who brought back from Russia welcome news of lively developments in genetics, growing up side by side with, and in spite of, the Lysenko school. There can be little doubt that, as "A Very Puzzled Scientist" suggests, "Lysenko’s absurdities will find him out," even in his own country. The greatest contribution the world of science can make towards this end, and towards a full resumption of the great work Russian geneticists and plant geographers did in the ’twenties and ’thirties under the leadership of N. I. Vavilov, is to expose the mediaeval quackery of the Lysenko school. This has recently beén done with admirable objectivity by P. S. Hudson and R. H. Richens, in a book The New Genetics in the Soviet Union, Imperial Bureau of Plant Breeding and Genetics, School of Agriculture, Cambridge. This publication can be obtained through the inter-loan service of New Zealand libraries.
O. H.
FRANKEL
(Christchurch.)
Sir,-May I make a correction to a statement appearing in your columns over the name of Ian S. Macdougall; Mr. Macdougall’s statement is to the effect that Professor Ashby distorted the truth in his published statements about the fate of Academician Vavilov. The Vavilov to whom Professor Ashby referred is N. I. Vavilov the geneticist. The Vavilov referred to in Moscow News is S. I. Vavilov, a physicist who is at present President of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. I have no clear evidence as to the fate of N. I. Vavilov, but I believe that he died in public disgrace after a life of brilliant service to Soviet science, to be replaced by an apparent impostor. As for the question of inaccuracy in Professor Ashby’s statements about Soviet Science my present impression from reading much of his writing is that he is accurate and fair.
A STILL PUZZLED SCIENTIST
(Hamilton).
(Two. other correspondents have made the same correction. Ed. )
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 411, 9 May 1947, Page 5
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393WINDOW ON RUSSIA New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 411, 9 May 1947, Page 5
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