Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Vavilov and Lyssenko : the visionary and the charlatan
The story of the biggest scientific deception of the 20th century
Two men opposing each other: one of them, Nikolai Vavilova, was a botanical genius who travelled the world, accumulating a vast wealth of biodiversity; the other - Lyssenko - was a talented agronomist who claimed he was able to increase crop-yields through his pseudo inventions. In the burgeoning Soviet Union of the 1920s, prey to famine, they would each attempt, in their own way, to solve the problem which haunted the communist authorities: how to feed the people.
The genius would die of hunger in a Stalinist prison, the charlatan ended up as president of the academy of sciences.
This film is an account of two extraordinary human destinies, caught up in implacable political machinery and machinations. It is also the story of an incredible scientific controversy which takes on its full significance at a time when the whole world is wondering how on Earth it can feed the people of tomorrow.
Documentary: The Scientist, the Impostor & Stalin : How to Feed the People
Directed by: Gulya Mirzoeva
Production: Point du Jour (2017)
#documentary #freedocumentary #Vavilov #Lysenko #Stalin #SovietHistory #ScienceHistory #ScientificFraud #Biology #Totalitarianism #HistoryDocumentary #20thCenturyHistory
Vavilov and Lyssenko : the visionary and the charlatan
The story of the biggest scientific deception of the 20th century
Two men opposing each other: one of them, Nikolai Vavilova, was a botanical genius who travelled the world, accumulating a vast wealth of biodiversity; the other - Lyssenko - was a talented agronomist who claimed he was able to increase crop-yields through his pseudo inventions. In the burgeoning Soviet Union of the 1920s, prey to famine, they would each attempt, in their own way, to solve the problem which haunted the communist authorities: how to feed the people.
The genius would die of hunger in a Stalinist prison, the charlatan ended up as president of the academy of sciences.
This film is an account of two extraordinary human destinies, caught up in implacable political machinery and machinations. It is also the story of an incredible scientific controversy which takes on its full significance at a time when the whole world is wondering how on Earth it can feed the people of tomorrow.
Documentary: The Scientist, the Impostor & Stalin : How to Feed the People
Directed by: Gulya Mirzoeva
Production: Point du Jour (2017)
#documentary #freedocumentary #Vavilov #Lysenko #Stalin #SovietHistory #ScienceHistory #ScientificFraud #Biology #Totalitarianism #HistoryDocumentary #20thCenturyHistory
