Most of you are probably familiar with the suppression of the study of genetics by Trofim Lysenko in the early years of the now defunct USSR. Geneticists who opposed Lysenko's own Lamarckist theory that plants could pass on traits acquired during their lifetime were, in classic Soviet form, jailed; very often for good.
This whole history has come to light again with the recent rehabilitation of Lysenko by nationalists in Putin's Russia, in addition to the recent release of the book "Lysenko's Ghost" by Loren Graham. What appears below is from a review of the book in the Wall Street Journal this past week (whole article in link below, no paywall).
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-scourge-of-soviet-science-1466192179
There are important lessons to be learned from Lysenkoism about the challenges confronting science in the day to day affairs of humanity. These threats are continual, and something we should all be aware of in our own community as consumers and producers of scientific information.
Italics are mine for emphasis.
In particular the article states that "(t)he internal logic of science makes it quite resistant to external interference - Galileo's or Lysenko's critics can be silenced by force majeure but only for a time. Science is much more vulnerable to the blurring of objectivity that occurs when scientists become passionate advocates for some political cause in which their discipline gives them apparent expertise. The internal checks and balances of science are then cast aside, and the public yields to the expert, which may or may not be correct."
Politics and science never mix. Caveat emptor.
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