N. I. VAVILOV 1887—1942 This photograph of Dr. Vavilov was made at the time of the Sixth International Genetics Congress, at Ithaca in 1932, when he was at the height of his activity in assembling plants from all over the world for use in speeding the production of improved varieties for the USSR. N. I. VAVILOV, A MARTYR OF GENETICS 1887—1942 TH. DOBZHANSKY Columbia University

IOLOGISTS everywhere have went to continue his education and re- been concerned for almost a dec- search at Cambridge University in Eng- B ade about the fate of N. I. Vavi- land. There he became a student and a lov, the most eminent of Russian geneti- close friend of William Bateson, and cists. The magnitude of the tragedy of one of the group of pioneer geneticists this man has, however, become known of that day. In 1913 and 1914 he worked only recently. It is now clear that ge- at the John Innes Horticultural Insti- netics owes homage to his memory not tute founded and organized by Bateson. only because his contributions as an Even before his sojourn in England, original investigator have been great Vavilov had begun to study the immuni- and his work as organizer and leader of ty of to fungus diseases, and research has been outstanding. He has published several papers on this theo- suffered martyrdom for genetics. In retically interesting and practically im- our time, being a scientist is not usually portant subject (1913). He then pro- considered a dangerous occupation, but ceeded to investigate the genetic basis of rather one of the ways to relative se- the immunity, and found it adequately curity dnd to the little amenities of mid- describable in fairly simple Mendelian dle class existence. Not so with Vavilov. terms. After his return to Russia at the He ignored personal comforts and gave start of the first world war, Vavilov himself up entirely to his work. In his commenced his great work on the origin last years he had to suffer the anguish of cultivated plants. This monumental of seeing the results of his efforts being pulled down by incompetents. He met study, unquestionably Vavilov's most death a prisoner on the bleak and for- important research contribution, was bidding shores of Eastern Siberia. published in 1926, in a book which re- mains a classic, namely The Centers of Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was born Origin of Cultivated Plants. Here in 1887, a son of a very wealthy mer- Vavilov gave a synthesis of the mass of chant. He came from the curious class information accumulated in the botani- of "illustrious merchantry" of old Rus- cal literature since de Candolle, and de- sia, which for centuries tended to be- veloped his theory of several principal come a closed caste, expert at profit tak- centers of origin and of concentration ing but not otherwise noted for cultural of genetic diversity in cultivated plant achievement. Yet, in the late nineteenth species. This work brought him world- and early twentieth centuries this class wide recognition and acclaim. His other suddenly produced a large crop of lead- important theory, that of "The Law of ers in almost all fields of intellectual Homologous Series in Variation" (1920, endeavor. Among these leaders were 1922, 1935), is an empirical generaliza- , the biologist, and his tion which states that related biological brother Sergei, a physicist and current- species tend to parallel each other in ly president of the Academy of Sciences hereditary variability. of USSR. The young Vavilovs had the opportunity to receive the best edura- tion which money could purchase. Nik- Organization of Soviet Genetics olai chose as his specialty biology and The Russian revolution opened an un- agriculture. He graduated from the limited field of application for Vavi- Agricultural Academv at Petrovsko- lov's energies. After an interlude as a Razumovskoe (near Moscow), and soon professor at the University of Saratov 227 228 The Journal of

(1917-1920), he was placed in charge tive Committee (corresponding approxi- of the Bureau of Applied Botany in Pet- mately to the American Senate), and rograd (1920). Within a few years, he was one of the very few non-communist developed this rather inconsequential bu- members of that body. In 1929, he was reau of the old Ministry of Agriculture elected member of the Academy of Sci- into one of the largest and most active ences of USSR, and in 1931 president research institutions devoted to agricul- of the All-Union Geographical Society tural sciences anywhere in the world. and director of the Genetics Institute of He not only did a prodigious amount of the Academy. organizing work at home but also trav- eled all over Europe and the United World Traveler States to establish contacts with scien- The practical problems of the im- tists in other countries. Most impor- provement of agriculture in USSR were tant, he brought back with him a approached by Vavilov with his charac- whole library of scientific literature, teristically sweeping breadth and vision. the supply of which had been cut He recognized that new and improved off for several years by the war and, varieties of economic plants can be cre- afterward, by the blockade of the ated only by combining together valu- revolution. Active biologists from all able genes. Such genes can be found over Russia flocked to the library of scattered in the existing varieties, thor- Vavilov's new Institute to become ac- oughbred as well as primitive ones, all quainted with the advances of world sci- over the world and, especially, at the ence. Not a few of these visitors ended "Centers of Origin." A scientific breed- by joining Vavilov's rapidly growing er, he realized, must first of all take staff of collaborators. Others undertook stock of the available resources, of the new types of research integrated with genetic raw materals, which will be use- the work of the Vavilov group. Still ful to him in his work. Such a global others carried away with them some of inventory is completely out of the ques- the inspiration and enthusiasm which tion for an individual scientist, or for a prevailed in Vavilov's entourage. In a small group of scientists. But an Insti- few years, the All-Union Institute of tute such as he had built, backed by the Applied Botany and New Crops, as the resources of a socialist state, could, so Bureau was now called, became the cen- thought Vavilov, undertake this historic ter of a federation of agricultural re- assignment. Hence, Vavilov and his col- search institutes distributed all over the leagues journeyed and collected scientific USSR, from the Polar Circle to the sub- materials in approximately sixtv coun- tropics of Caucasus and Turkestan. The tries in all parts of the world. The sci- combined staffs of these institutes in entific and practical value of the collec- 1934 amounted to about 20,000 persons. tions assembled in the institutions ad- ministered by Vavilov was inestimable. Despite the enormous weight of his administrative responsibilities, Vavilov Vavilov himself was probably the most managed to remain the de iacto scientific widely traveled biologist of our dav. He and research leader, as well as the presi- visited the United States and Western dent, of this unprecedented research or- Europe several times, and was personal- ganization, which underwent one more lv well known to. and liked by. most of change of name, to become known final- his genetical and botanical contempora- ly as Lenin's All-Union Academv of ries. But he was also an explorer not Agricultural Sciences. His seemingly afraid to penetrate, with a very modest, boundless energy and vitality sufficed not to say meager, financial support, both for administrative duties and for places remote from well-trodden paths. creative research. Recognition came to As early as 1916, he had explored Per- him from all sides. He was made a sia, Turkomania and Bokhara. In 1920- member of the Soviet's Central Execu- 1923 he visited various parts of Middle Dobzhansky: N. I. Vavilov 229

Asia, including Tadjikstan and Pamir. assistance to all manner of people, some In 1924 he covered a long and arduous of them only slightly known to him. itinerary in Afganistan. In 1925 he went Despite being forced to lead the life to Khiva. In 1927 he studied the Medi- of a busy executive, Vavilov neither terranean region from Portugal and abandoned his own creative research nor Morocco to Syria and Trans-Jordan, let it be performed in his name by as- and made an expedition to Ethiopia and sistants. More than that, he found time Somaliland. In 1929 he visited Chinese to read the current scientific literature, Turkestan (Tarim Depression) and and was always fully conversant with Songaria. Finally, in 1930 and 1932- the recent advances in genetics and in 1933 he traveled and collected extensive- agricultural research, which is some- ly in Mexico and in Central and South thing very few scientists holding execu- America. The country which he was un- tive positions manage to do. He always able to visit despite his eagerness to do enjoyed discussing current research so was India, because its government problems with other scientists, even with steadfastly refused to admit him. Pro- fessor H. J. Muller informs me that, by beginners. But to have the privilege of a tragic irony, Vavilov was finally in- such a discussion, one was often given vited to visit India in the fall or an appointment at some altogether un- of 1937. But when this opportunity orthodox hour. Vavilov did not have came at last, he was refused permission one iota of the self-conscious eccentricity to go by his own government, that of of an eminent man, and his manner of the USSR. The results of his activity address was equally direct, cheerful, and can be gleaned from the fact that more sincere with his equals • and with his than 25,000 samples of alone juniors. were collected and grown in experimen- To Vavilov, all worth-while scientific tal plantings in various parts of USSR. problems seemed to have bearing on the welfare of the whole world, and, hence, Devotion to Science the whole world had to be called on to Vavilov was first and foremost a man contribute toward their solution. Almost of action. His energy, forcefulness, and every publication that came from his pen working ability were marvelous. He was attests this truly cosmopolitan spirit of actually able to get along on between its author. He was irresistibly fascinated four and six hours of sleep per day, and by grand scales and by the world-wide appeared to neither need nor desire any implications of his ideas. In the words rest or recreation. No wonder that his of one of his friends, a fundamental trait collaborators considered it as something of Vavilov's personality was that he dis- less than a privilege to travel or to live liked quantities of less than a million. in his company for many days in succes- And, yet, Vavilov was ah ardent Russian sion. Comforts and conveniences count- patriot. Outside of Russia, he was re- ed for little with Vavilov. In the nine- garded by some as a communist, which teen-twenties, while he was one of the he was not. But he' did wholeheartedly most influential scientists in the USSR, .accept the revolution. • because he'be- he lived in his office at the Institute of lieved that it opened broader oossibili- Applied Botany, an oldish leather-cov- ties for the development of the land and ered davenport serving as his bed. His of 'the people of Russia that would have meals were prepared by a janitor's wife, been otherwise. In October 1930. dur- who did not excel in the art of cooking. ing a trip to the Sequoia National Park- When he married his scientific collabo- in the company of this writer (and with rator, E. I. Barulina, the new Mrs. nobodv else present), he said with much Vavilov discovered that the household emphasis and conviction that, in his expenses for the first few months had to opinion, the opportunities for serving be met chiefly from her own salary. His mankind which existed in the USSR much larger salary had been pledged for were so great and so inspiring that for 230 The Journal of Heredity their sake one must learn to overlook and 1936, Lysenko, Present, and their the cruelties of the regime. He asserted followers struck. In a stream of maga- that nowhere else in the world was the zine and newspaper articles and speeches, work of scientists appreciated more than they declared genetics to be inconsistent in the USSR. with dialetical materialism and with Darwinism as they construed the latter, The Lysenko Controversy and to be, in fact, tainted with fascism A Congress of Genetics, Plant- and and with Nazi race theories. Further- Animal Breeding, attended by about more, they contended, Vavilov's basing 1400 members, assembled in Leningrad the work of plant and animal improve- In 1929 under the presidency of Vavilov. ment on genetic principles had caused Among 348 papers read at this Con- inexcusable delays in the successful out- gress, a fairly interesting but in no way come of this improvement work. Vastly revolutionary study on the physiology of more spectacular, and anyway vastly cereals had as its junior author one T. more rapid, practical attainments would D. Lysenko. A few years later the name come if only Vavilov's mismanagement of Lysenko was destined to become and the suspect "Mendelian-Morganian" familiar not only to biologists but to genetics were supplanted by Lysenko's newspaper readers throughout the patriotic leadership and the incorruptibly USSR. He was hailed as the discoverer dialectico-Darwinistic approach. of vernalization, a process whereby win- In 1935 it was a deadly serious matter ter can be influenced to produce a to be accused of having slowed down crop if sown in the spring. The phe- the development of agricultural produc- nomenon of vernalization had been dis- tion in USSR. To consider these covered in the United States years be- charges a new Congress on genetics and fore Lysenko gave it a name; but Ly- agriculture was convened in Moscow in senko certainly proved himself a master 1936, presided over by A. I. Muralov, a of the art of modern publicity. He high governmental dignitary. The pub- claimed, or it was claimed for him, that lished transactions of this Congress vernalization inaugurated a new era in make painful reading. There were Ly- Soviet agriculture, permitting, among senko and Present with a well organized other things, the culture of crops group of followers, pleading, cajoling, much farther north than was formerly and threatening. Several geneticists, possible. The vernalization bandwagon among them H. J. Muller, the visiting was highly popular some ten to fifteen American, vainly tried to stem the tide years ago but it is perhaps significant against genetics. The least inspiring that little has been heard about practical sight was that of some competent scien- applications of vernalization in the tists who attempted to sit on the fence USSR or anywhere else in recent years. or who made unctuous speeches prais- ing both factions. Vavilov himself made Vavilov welcomed Lysenko's debut; two speeches in defense of modern gene • although his published praises of Ly- tics and agricultural science. To judge senko sound a bit hollow, he urged facili- from the published texts, those speeches ties for testing Lysenko's ideas. Lysenko lacked Vavilov's customary forcefulness was, however, interested in much big- and optimism, as though he felt that the ger stakes. Sometime in the early nine- issue had already been decided against teen-thirties, Lysenko formed an alliance him. And indeed, the 1936 genetics with I. I. Present. Present was neither Coneress turned on the whole against a biologist nor an agriculturist, but a Vavilov, just as the one held in 1929 specialist in the philosophy of dialectical gave him his greatest triumph. materialism; he was also a highly effec- tive polemical speaker and writer, and This rejection of sound scientific a possessor of a cultural refinement con- principles of established practical val- spicuously lacking in Lysenko. In 1935 ue, in favor of a witchcraft supported Dubzhansky: N. I. Vavilov 231 only by artful propaganda and by big lov and the other geneticists in the promises, seems utterly incomprehen- USSR were, of course, aware of this sible. The subversion and demolition antagonism, but they hoped that it would of the work on plant improvement or- be dissipated as a better understanding ganized so successfully and on such a penetrated the public mind. Lysenko vast scale by Vavilov undoubtedly and Present fanned the antagonism to caused a setback in the development of an inferno of contention in their attempt agriculture in the USSR. Since, even to unseat Vavilov and to grasp his place with the energy of another Vavilov, of leadership for themselves. Accusa- such an organization could not be re- tions of neglect of practical work were stored overnight, this blunder has combined with indictments for heresy harmed, and will continue to hamstring against apprdved philosophic principles. this development for some time to come. In any scientific community individ- No matter what else may be said about uals are not unknown who try to build their intentions, those assembled at the their reputations by criticizing the work 1936 Genetics Congress, including a ma- of others rather than by producing jority of Lysenko's followers, doubtless original ideas or work of their own. sincerely desired the betterment rather After the Moscow Genetics meeting in than the deterioration of Soviet agricul- 1936, there was an open season for fault- ture. This paradox can be understood finding regarding Vavilov's research only in connection with certain peculiar and organizing activity. Dozens of features of the development of biology, hitherto unknown authors suddenly dis- and particularly of evolutionary thought, in the USSR. covered that Vavilov's theories of the Centers of Origin and of homologous series in variation were totally unfound- Genetics and Marxism ed. Worse than that, those theories had Some of these features have recently led Vavilov to dissipate his efforts by been analyzed by Hudson and Richens sending expeditions to many foreign and by Beale.* Without going into de- lands, instead of confining himself to tail, it may be stated that Lysenko and studies on local varieties in the USSR, Present have exploited for their own which would have resulted in greater ends an old antagonism toward genetics practical achievements. Vavilov was also which had existed amongst some biolo- accused of causing plant breeders to rely gists but also to a greater extent among on the method of sexual hybridization the general reading public in USSR. which is practiced everywhere in the This antagonism arose because of an un- world, instead of the method of "vege- fortunate misunderstanding of the mean- tative hybrids" proposed by Michurin ing and implications of genetics by and Lysenko. Vavilov was told patron- Timiriazev, a highly respected intellect- izingly by a certain I. M. Poliakov that ual leader, and by Michurin, a suc- "it is not necessary for you to bow slav- cessful horticulturist. Timiriazev and ishly before foreign science." - And in- Michurin regarded the early work of deed, some breeders in the USSR genetics, especially that of Bateson's promptly switched from sexual to "vege- school, as subversive to Darwin's evolu- tative" hybridization. But Vavilov's tion theory and, in fact, a product of worst sin, which negated all his research "clerical reaction" against evolutionary and practical activities, was his backslid- biology. The opinions of Timiriazev and ing from canonical Darwinism (as hand- Michurin carried, and still carry, great ed down from Darwin through Timiria- weight not only because of their scien- zev, Michurin, and Lysenko) into the tific authority but also because of the Mendelian-Morganian heresy. This set- political eminence they achieved. Vavi- *P. S. HUDSON and R. H. RICHENS, "The New Genetics in the Soviet Union," Cambridge 1946; G. H. BEALE, "Timiriazev, Founder of Soviet Genetics," Nature, vol. 159, 1947. 232 The Journal of Heredity ting of Darwin as an incontrovertible his first post under the new revolution- authority in opposition to genetics, is ary regime), and whence he was trans- one of the weirdest chapters in the un- ported to Siberia. His destination was believable story of Lysenko's rise to Magadan, on the Sea of Okhotsk, the power. The fact that genetics is the capital of a rich gold-bearing region, foundation of modern Darwinism proved but a place of sinister reputation, be- to be no obstacle in the Lysenko-Present cause of its deadly climate and even campaign. worse because it was built and operated by forced labor. According to some in- Downfall and Exile formation, Vavilov was put to work on In August 1939, the Seventh Inter- breeding varieties of vegetables capable national Congress of Genetics was held of growing in Magadan's climate, but at Edinburgh, Scotland, and Vavilov this information is not certain. The was invited to become its President, release, through death, probably came in thus receiving the highest honor which late 1942. No mention of N. I. Vavi- the consensus of opinion of the world's lov's name can be found in the list of geneticists can bestow. He accepted the living and recently deceased members invitation. But less than a month be- published by the Academy of Sciences fore the Congress was to open, came a of USSR in connection with its 220- letter, signed by Vavilov, which stated years jubilee celebrated in 1945. that "Soviet geneticists and plant and Vavilov's life was connected so inti- animal breeders do not consider possible mately with the development of genetics to take part in the Congress," because in the USSR, that his martyrdom is not the latter was to be held outside the separable from the crisis of the Russian USSR. Few if any members of the branch of that science. The bold and Congress had any illusions as to whether comprehensive long range program of Vavilov was a free agent when signing improvement of cultivated plants in- this letter. Matters were moving rapid- augurated by Vavilov in the USSR was ly toward a denouement. In October meant to take more years than were 1939, a "Conference on Genetics and given to it. This program, except for Selection" was held in Moscow, at its early fruits, is probably lost. Al- which the problems thrashed out at the though the available information is still 1936 meeting were gone over again, too incomplete to permit a clear view of with Lysenko, Present, and others great- the situation, Vavilov is certainly not ly expanding their claims as to the the only geneticist who fell victim of the theoretical soundness and practical effi- wrath of the self-styled "Darwinists." cacy of their "Darwinism." Vavilov, And yet, it is assuredly not true that all interrupted and heckled from the floor, genetic research has been suppressed in delivered what was probably the weak- USSR, as some writers in American est speech in his life, his attitude being journals hastily asserted. To be sure. almost entirely defensive, although he Lysenko had the temerity to demand courageously reasserted the soundness that the teaching of genetics be discon- of the basic principles of genetics. He tinued in all institutions of higher learn- evidently was already a broken man. ing in the USSR, but fortunately his influence was never sufficiently great After the 1939 Genetics Conference, outside the sphere of agriculture. As a shroud of silence envelops Vavilov. the uninterrupted flow of publications The closing chapter can be reconstructed demonstrates, enough first rate genetic only from unofficial, fragmentary, but research is now being done to enable apparently reliable information. Vavilov the USSR at least to retain one of the was arrested, probably in 1940. Part of places of . prominence which it has the time during the winter 1941-1942. secured, in part owing to Vavilov's or- he was a prisoner in a concentration ganizing and creative activity, among camp at Saratov (ironically, it was at the nations of the world. the University of Saratov that he held