The book «Development of Evolutionary Theory in the USSR»: reflexion in the memories of E. I. Kolchinsky

Abstract

The discussion of the creative heritage of the largest historian of science, biologist-evolutionist Eduard Kolchinsky, who passed away two years ago, continues. Kolchinsky is widely known to the world community of science historians and scientists as an outstanding researcher and organizer of science, for 20 years he headed the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and founded always attracted the attention of everyone working in science; his conferences were crowded and lively. He was an open person who helped near and far, generously shared his high intellectual potential, supported and stimulated young researchers. Kolchinsky led large international projects, his creative energy was great, he was sensitive to new trends in the development of science and always responded to them in an original and large-scale manner. Author of over a thousand scientific and popular science publications, several dozen monographs. He brought up a galaxy of students – recognized scientists, followers, like-minded people. This publication deals with a very significant collective monograph «The Development of the Evolutionary Theory in the USSR» [1983], which literally made a gap in the conspiracy of silence between the authorities and T. D. Lysenko. This work became fateful in the biography of Kolchinsky. The purpose of the article is to reveal the difficult process of combining biologists and historians of biology into a coherent group of authors, to highlight the complicating events and circumstances that accompanied the creation of this fundamental work, and the role of E. I. Kolchinsky in this process. The main results consist in elucidating the features of this process, the influence on it of the administrative realities of the social system of the country and the situation that has developed in the biological science of the USSR. Examples of reflection on the events that accompanied the creation of the aforementioned monograph, by E. I. Kolchinsky are given. The originality of the article lies in the consideration of little-known organizational and scientific aspects of the creation of such an important sci