The Absolute Worst Scientist Of All Time – And Why He’s Popular Again
Visit http://www.brilliant.org/answerswithjoe to start learning STEM for free, and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription.
Few scientists have caused more death and suffering than Trofim Lysenko. He was a Soviet botanist whose ideas around genetics (i.e., he didn’t believe in it) led to massive famines across multiple decades when Josef Stalin promoted his ideas across the country. And yet… He’s becoming popular again. Why? Let’s look at it.
Want to support the channel? Here’s how:
Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/answerswithjoe
Channel Memberships: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-2YHgc363EdcusLIBbgxzg/join
T-Shirts & Merch: http://www.answerswithjoe.com/store
Check out my 2nd channel, Joe Scott TMI:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqi721JsXlf0wq3Z_cNA_Ew
And my podcast channel, Conversations With Joe:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJzc7TiJ2nnuyJkUpOZ8RKA
You can listen to my podcast, Conversations With Joe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Spotify 👉 https://spoti.fi/37iPGzF
Apple Podcasts 👉 https://apple.co/3j94kfq
Google Podcasts 👉 https://bit.ly/3qZCo1V
Interested in getting a Tesla or going solar? Use my referral link and get discounts and perks:
https://ts.la/joe74700
Follow me at all my places!
Instagram: https://instagram.com/answerswithjoe
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@answerswithjoe
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/answerswithjoe
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/answerswithjoe
LINKS LINKS LINKS
https://www.biography.com/political-figures/joseph-stalin
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/joseph-stalin-national-hero-or-cold-blooded-murderer/zhv747h
https://coub.com/view/focnl
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/intn.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_famine_of_1930%E2%80%931933
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_five-year_plan
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Trofim-Lysenko
https://ethos.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/560/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Trofim-Lysenko
https://www.wbur.org/news/2017/04/07/cautionary-tale-politics-science-lysenko
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/when-the-soviet-union-chose-the-wrong-side-on-genetics-and-evolution-23179035/
https://www.britannica.com/science/Lamarckism
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/when-the-soviet-union-chose-the-wrong-side-on-genetics-and-evolution-23179035/
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/trofim-lysenko-soviet-union-russia/548786
https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/what-is-gene.html
https://everything-everywhere.com/trofim-lysenko-and-lysenkoism/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofim_Lysenko
https://clas.ucdenver.edu/nhdc/sites/default/files/attached-files/entry_443.pdf
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/trofim-lysenko-soviet-union-russia/548786
https://www.famousscientists.org/trofim-lysenko/?msclkid=13d588a2aaa811eca4cddcd8f66bce3a
https://everything-everywhere.com/trofim-lysenko-and-lysenkoism/
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)30949-1
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/trofim-lysenko-soviet-union-russia/548786
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)30949-1
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/trofim-lysenko-soviet-union-russia/548786
https://www.the-scientist.com/foundations/stamping-out-science-1948-68665
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Intro
1:50 – The Great Purge
4:38 – Trofim Lysenko
6:45 – Trofim’s Beliefs
9:50 – The Beginning of the End of Lysenko
12:45 – Epigenetics
15:00 – Sponsor – Brilliant
Comments
Latest news
@kathleensvec3420
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
My parents would make me finish everything on my plate before I could leave the table. Those brussel sprouts were really cold by bedtime. Never would eat them. Turnips too.
@Sipasthebs
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
2:20 awkward loud distracting transition into weird moody background music
@NopeNada-z3v
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Communism is fucking evil.
@SCOOTERMCNUTTY
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Just think, in a few years you can redo this video except it will be RFK Jr.
@SKPetel
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
I just met an actual Lysenkoist in real life yesterday, and the idiocy left me with a headache to today.
@ReyLeon81TTV
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
I got "there's starving kids in Africa!"
@Autumn_of_your_life
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
My mom used to tell me there were starving children in Africa. When I questioned her, she did one of those adopt a child things, and we got a photo of a little girl from Ethiopia .. 😅
@SauceySav408
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Mine was “there are starving kids in Africa!” Due to the Ethiopian famine….😅. Not that the famine is funny. I was born in 85
@OhMyPodfics
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Im so counting this for studying for my ap bio exam tomorrow(i mean it’s on genetics and so yeah it counts)
@SparkleLuna77
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
See it was starving kids in Africa when I was a kid but maybe it cause I’m in the uk 🤷♀️
@michelmln
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
7:00 You were making fun of the USSR institute of genetics who didn't believe in genetic, however now in 2026 your secretary of Health doesn't believe in vaccination…
@bridgetdavis9752
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
When I was a kid the famine was going on. 😢
@mannikiini5292
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
I was never given the example of China – for me, it was always Africa.
@HappyAlly77
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
I always got "there are starving kids in Africa" but same shame lmao
@dave.vega.
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Trump would've made him Secretary of Agriculture
@colonelweird
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Terrible video. Joe doesn't even mention similarly awful science in the capitalist world at the time. Social darwinism, eugenics, and race science were widely believed. Why? Because they supported the capitalist view of the world. My guess is that the Soviet Union reacted against this pseudo-science but made their own serious mistakes by embracing Lysenko. Do I have to mention the horrific effects of western "science"?
Joe sounds like he's parroting cold war propaganda, not explaining actual history or science. Now I have to go find some real scholarship to cleanse my mind of Joe's distortions.
@philw8049
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Yep, I got the "Starving kids in china" line as a kid lol in the seventies.
@zeekfromthecreek
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if you really could get better milk production by being nice to cows. I'd be willing to bet you can get less milk by treating them badly enough. 🙂
@ImdaPrincesse
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
The thumbnail looks like Mads Mikkelsen 🤣
@faeryvixenetc
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Africa was the locale my Mother used.
@metwono
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
What a dummy that guy was.
@nickstorring
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
“Ow grat’n”
@bearbearbearbears
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
another big part of china's famine was the sparrow extermination campaign. that was a true man-made environmental disaster. along with the shortage of farmers because of the push for metalworking
@delevator8755
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Horrible horrible music. And it's too loud.
@jacobpaul5649
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
7:08 "Like Andrew Carnegie decided _______ or something"
I've replayed and listened to this sentence like 10 times already but I still have no clue what he was trying to say.
@BoogerwolfJones
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
rfk jr is the new lysenko. plan accordingly.
@mnemosynevermont5524
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
WAY too loud music
@mnemosynevermont5524
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
"Send it to them."
@arzeenine
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
my science teacher explained this concept like this:
"do any of your parents have tattoos?"
(several kids raised their hand)
"how many of you that raised your hands were born with tattoos?"
(nobody kept their hand raised)
@BoopSnootAndTroubleshoot
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
There are starving kids in China, there are starving kids in continental Africa, there are also starving kids in the USA too, but that's not mentioned.
@AngelDeLaMuerte-e5i
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
What about Fauci’s mismanagement of the AIDS epidemic. Let’s not forget his incompetence during the ‘Rona attack in 2020. In 1990, During Desert Storm, to protect the Troops against any Nuclear, Bio, or Chemical attack, EVERYONE Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Marine, were ALL issued NBC suits. Paper masks? What a joke…
@ashtonhashbrown6155
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
He kinda looks like a young Putin lol
@unclejoe7466
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
2 years later — RFK Jr. is this guy's clone.😬
@lokeyGee87
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
Running your garden like a political ideology is adjacent to running your country like a business
@Ikrell-Laires
February 18, 2026 at 8:17 pm
the parts of this video with background music the background music was waaaay too loud and distracting
Comments are closed.