The Irrepressible Zhores Medvedev

Zhores Medvedev is a Russian biologist who specializes in biochemistry, gerontology, and molecular evolution. He first started annoying the Soviet authorities after he was refused permission to leave the country in order to attend an international gerontological congress which had invited him to give a major address. Ever since, he has spent much of his time promoting the cause of international communication among scientists, an activity the Soviet government does not appreciate.

Medvedev is afflicted with what has been called the “Leonardo da Vinci syndrome,” a tendency to do things of note outside one’s own field. This, in itself, is criticized by Soviet officialdom, especially when it resulted in his writing The Rise and Fall of T. D. Lysenko, published in 1969. This factual, well-documented book described an absurd policy initiated during Stalin’s heyday and continued under Khrushchev to the great detriment of agriculture and the food supply in Russia. (We have Borlaug, they had Lysenko, hence the wheat purchase.) The fact that Medvedev wrote as a strong supporter of the Soviet Union made the book no more palatable to the Kremlin, presumably because the truth hurts more when it is told by a member of the family. So Medvedev was soon fired and unable to get a new job.

TJ

About the Author

Thomas H. Jukes

Zhores Medvedev is a Russian biologist who specializes in biochemistry, gerontology, and molecular evolution. He first started annoying the Soviet authorities after he was refused permission to leave the country in order to attend an international gerontological congress which had invited him to give a major address. Ever since, he has spent much of his time promoting the cause of international communication among scientists, an activity the Soviet government does not appreciate.

Medvedev is afflicted with what has been called the “Leonardo da Vinci syndrome,” a tendency to do things of note outside one’s own field. This, in itself, is criticized by Soviet officialdom, especially when it resulted in his writing The Rise and Fall of T. D. Lysenko, published in 1969. This factual, well-documented book described an absurd policy initiated during Stalin’s heyday and continued under Khrushchev to the great detriment of agriculture and the food supply in Russia. (We have Borlaug, they had Lysenko, hence the wheat purchase.) The fact that Medvedev wrote as a strong supporter of the Soviet Union made the book no more palatable to the Kremlin, presumably because the truth hurts more when it is told by a member of the family. So Medvedev was soon fired and unable to get a new job.