The path to the recognition of scientific research of world importance in the field of genetics

Authors

  • Zlata S. Gershenson I.I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15407/visn2024.08.086

Abstract

In 1960, Professor Serhiy Gershenson, who was then head of the Department of Genetics at the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, hypothesized that genetic information could be transferred from RNA to DNA and, together with scientists from his department, was the first to experimentally prove that this phenomenon existed. Most of his colleagues were skeptical of the results, considering them implausible. The article, based on documentary materials from S.M. Gershenson's family archive, shows how difficult it was for scientific truth to pave the way for recognition in the face of the dominance of conformist views and how the country lost the priority of breakthrough achievements in science.

References

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Published

2024-08-26