Trofim Lysenko
Okay, so Trofim Lysenko was a scientist from a long time ago who believed some things that other scientists didn't agree with. He thought that if you exposed plants to things like cold or dampness, they could change in a way that would make them better suited for their environment. This is called "acquired characteristics."
Most scientists didn't agree with Lysenko because they believed that genes controlled the traits of plants and animals, not just the environment they were in. But Lysenko was very persuasive and powerful, so he got the government in his country to support his ideas.
This meant that any scientist who disagreed with Lysenko could get in big trouble, maybe even go to jail. So lots of scientists had to stop doing experiments or writing papers that disagreed with Lysenko.
This was a really bad thing because it takes lots of different scientists asking different questions and looking at things in different ways to make good discoveries and progress. But because of Lysenko, science in his country fell behind and people suffered.
Most scientists didn't agree with Lysenko because they believed that genes controlled the traits of plants and animals, not just the environment they were in. But Lysenko was very persuasive and powerful, so he got the government in his country to support his ideas.
This meant that any scientist who disagreed with Lysenko could get in big trouble, maybe even go to jail. So lots of scientists had to stop doing experiments or writing papers that disagreed with Lysenko.
This was a really bad thing because it takes lots of different scientists asking different questions and looking at things in different ways to make good discoveries and progress. But because of Lysenko, science in his country fell behind and people suffered.