In the wake of one publication, or about the attitude to the history of science as a science

Abstract

The article is a historical investigation devoted to reliability of Professor T.A.Ginetsinskaya’s publication about the circumstances of Professor E. S.Danini’s speech (December 1954) criti cizing O.B.Lepeshinskaya’s “new cellular theory”. After analyzing scientific sources, mem oirs of contemporaries of the described events and comparing the dates, the author proves that E. S.Danini’s speech in the context given in T.A.Ginetsinskaya’s article could not have taken place in reality. It took place in other circumstances and was not so dramatic. This is indicated by the documented memories of eyewitnesses and participants of the meetings, as well as materials of speeches by members of the Society of Anatomists, histologists and em bryologistsat the Institute of Experimental Medicine (including E. S.Danini). In addition, it is shown that criticism of Lepeshinskaya’s “new cellular theory” had begun much earlier than December 1954. The article provides data of numerous critical speeches about Lepeshinskaya’s theory at various meetings in 1953 and 1954. Criticism of Lepeshinskaya’s views by the end of 1954 ceased to pose a danger to critics, and therefore the drama of the situation described in Ginetsinskaya’s article does not seem to correspond to the realities of that time.