ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the cases that shows what can happen when the content of science is dictated by nonscientific forces. In a recent collection of essays, Mark Adams set the Lysenko affair in the broader context of the nature-nurture debate within the Soviet Union. The parallels and contrasts with corresponding debate in the West make interesting reading but drift far from my main theme of differentiating between science and its imitators. During the Nazi years "Aryan physics" was championed; attempts were made to suppress relativity and quantum theory, labeled as "Jewish physics". Prominent figures in the creation science movement have attempted to give scientific justification to their claims that the earth is relatively young. The creation science issue, however, shows how science can be damaged insidiously in a more open society. To understand the reasons for the successes of these antiscientific campaigns, we need to see them against the backgrounds of their different societies.
