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From molecules to the biosphere: Nikolai V. Timoféeff-Ressovsky’s (1900–1981) research program within a totalitarian landscape

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Abstract

Nikolai Vladimirovich Timoféeff-Ressovsky was one of the key figures in the Synthetic Theory of Evolution. Living and researching under what was arguably the two most powerful and cruel totalitarian regimes in human history, the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, Timoféeff-Ressovsky succeeded in developing an ambitious research program aiming to explain evolution on all major levels, from the molecular-genetic, the populational, and the biogeocenotic to the level of the entire Biosphere. Yet his scientific biography remains largely unwritten and his role under totalitarianism, especially in Nazi Germany, remains highly controversial. Here we approach the problem of his hypothetical cooperation with Nazi authorities examining both the crucial episodes of his biography and summarizing the development of his research program. We conclude that the key decisions he made reflected the specificity of his research program that was focused on the fundamental questions of evolutionary biology.

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Notes

  1. FSB—Federal Security Service, contemporary Russian intelligence service, the successor of the KGB.

  2. According to the recommendation letter signed by Koltzoff, TR was at that time a supplementary associate (“vneshtatnyj sotrudnik”) of the Institute and a teacher of the “worker’s faculty”: Babkov and Sakanjan (2002 , p. 42).

  3. Archive of the Jena University (UAJ), Best. U, Abt. 10, Nr. 48.

  4. TR was accused for co-operation with the Nazi authorities and for contribution into the “completion of the military power of the fascist Germany,” for example, Iljin and Provorotov (1989).

  5. E.g., official appeals and publications of his pupil Ivanov (1990). See also an official appeal to the Office of General Military Prosecutor: BStU, MfS HA IX/11 RHE25/87 SU. Bd. 119.

  6. RFR: Reichsforschungsrat was established in 1937 for the coordination of scientific studies. RFR had a clear emphasis on armament research, for instance, supported various the SS research projects.

  7. For example: Priroda, 1990, 9:81–84.

  8. NKVD—People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the Soviet secret service responsible, among others, for political repressions.

  9. 1948 is the year of apogee of Lysenkoism in the USSR.

  10. BStU, MfS HA IX/11, RHE 25/87 SU.

  11. BStU, Archiv der Zentralstelle, MfS HA IX/11, RHE 25/87 SU Vol. 2a (UdSSR-Documents), p. 146.

  12. Harwood expressed doubts that these terms were coined by TR and appeals to the fact that Oscar Vogt employed the same terms (Harwood 1993, p. 55). However, Vogt used these terms with a totally different meaning and in a different field of biology. In fact, TR expressed these ideas already in 1925–1926 (Timoféeff-Ressovsky 1925).

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Acknowledgments

Our research on the history of evolutionary biology is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Ho 2143/9-1). GL extends his thanks to the University of King’s College (Halifax) for all-around assistance and a travel grant. The authors are thankful to Ulrich Kutschera, Elisabeth Frazer, Ian stewart, and an anonymous reviewer for valuable suggestions. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to avail the facilities at Archive of the Jena University (UAJ) and Archiv der Zentralstelle der BStU.

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  1. University of King’s College, Halifax, NS, B3H2A1, Canada

    Georgy S. Levit

  2. AG Biodidactics, FSU Jena, Am Steiger 3, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Georgy S. Levit & Uwe Hoßfeld

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  1. Georgy S. Levit
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Correspondence to Georgy S. Levit.

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This article is dedicated to the memory of Wolf-Ernst Reif, a pioneer of the rediscovery of the German Evolutionary Synthesis.

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Levit, G.S., Hoßfeld, U. From molecules to the biosphere: Nikolai V. Timoféeff-Ressovsky’s (1900–1981) research program within a totalitarian landscape. Theory Biosci. 128, 237–248 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12064-009-0076-x

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