The Case of Professor V. M. Danchakova, Or the Difficult Years of a Russian American in the Country of the Soviets

Fando, Roman

doi:10.31857/S020596060009436-1

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“The Case of Professor V. M. Danchakova,” Or the Difficult Years of a Russian American in the Country of the Soviets

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“The Case of Professor V. M. Danchakova,” Or the Difficult Years of a Russian American in the Country of the Soviets

PII

S020596060009436-1-1

DOI

10.31857/S020596060009436-1

Publication type

Article

Status

Published

Authors

Roman Fando

Affiliation: S. I. Vavilov Institute for the History of Science and Technology, RAS
Address: Russian Federation, 125315, Moscow, Ul. Baltiyskaya, 14

Journal name

Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki

Edition

Volume 41 2

Pages

244-279

Abstract

The paper describes a harassment campaign deployed by a number of Soviet biologists against a prominent histologist, V. M. Danchakova (Dantchakoff), from the mid-1920s throughout the first half of the 1930s. Born in St. Petersburg in 1877, she was educated at the University of Lausanne, returned to Russia in 1903 and defended her dissertation for the Doctor of Medicine degree at the Imperial Military Medical Academy in 1907. Since then she had several times tried to get a doсent and a professor position with Moscow University but failed to be approved by the Ministry of Public Education. In 1914, Vera Danchakova moved to the USA with her daughter under the Rockefeller Program, where she completed a fellowship in experimental embryology. In 1926, she moved to Moscow on an invitation from the Deputy RSFSR People’s Commissar of Education, M. N. Pokrovskii. In Moscow she was given a payroll job with the K. A. Timiryazev State Research Institute. Having encountered the lack of suitable conditions for conducting research, Danchakova purchased the necessary equipment with her own money and organized an aviary for keeping and raising birds. It was with her direct involvement that the construction of the Laboratory of Experimental Morphogenesis began in Ostankino. In 1930, like in many other research institutions, the purge of the staff begins at the Timiryazev Research Institute. Her fellow staff members begin to go after Danchakova, accusing her of anti-Soviet propaganda, poor scientific competence, and plagiarism. In 1931, the badgering of the professor reached its peak, which led to Danchakova’s appealing to J. Stalin, asking him to address this situation. “The case of V. M. Danchakova” was heard at the meeting of Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and examined by the members of the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), including the prominent statesmen such as E. M. Yaroslavskii, A. S. Bubnov, and M. S. Epshtein. The Party leaders were better inclined towards Danchakova than her own colleagues who resented her independence and ability to find supporters in the highest echelons of power. Despite the accusations of scientific incompetence, abuse of authority, and antiSoviet propaganda, the Central Committee resolved to provide necessary conditions for the continuation of Danchakova’s experiments. However, after her yet another international secondment in 1932, she was denied the entry visa to the USSR at the urging of the RSFSR People’s Commissar of Education, A. S. Bubnov.

Keywords

V. M. Danchakova (Dantchakoff), E. M. Yaroslavskii, A. S. Bubnov, science and power, Laboratory of Experimental Morphogenesis at the K. A. Timiryazev State Research Institute, RSFSR People’s Commissariat of Education, Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), scientific emigration

Received

14.06.2020

Publication date

20.06.2020

Number of characters

90402

Cite

GOST	Fando R. “The Case of Professor V. M. Danchakova,” Or the Difficult Years of a Russian American in the Country of the Soviets // Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki – 2020. – V. 41. – 2 C. 244-279 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://vietmag.org/S020596060009436-1-1 (circulation date: 20.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S020596060009436-1
MLA	Fando, Roman "“The Case of Professor V. M. Danchakova,” Or the Difficult Years of a Russian American in the Country of the Soviets." Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki 41.2 (2020):244-279. DOI: 10.31857/S020596060009436-1
APA	Fando R. (2020). “The Case of Professor V. M. Danchakova,” Or the Difficult Years of a Russian American in the Country of the Soviets. Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki 41(2), pp.244-279 DOI: 10.31857/S020596060009436-1

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