Lysenko, Trofim Denisovich (1898–1976), a Soviet scientist. As director of the Institute of Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, he was the leading figure in Soviet biology from 1940 to 1965. Lysenko developed the theory that the acquired characteristics of living things could be inherited. Although western scientists proved that this theory was false, it prevailed in the Soviet Union because Lysenko enlisted the political support of Stalin and Khrushchev to silence dissent. For more than two decades, his influence retarded the progress of Soviet biology and agriculture. After the fall of Khrushchev in 1964, Lysenko's theories were discredited and he was dismissed.