Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:06,267 --> 00:00:11,747
[wind]
2
00:00:23,762 --> 00:00:28,292
♪ ♪
3
00:00:28,463 --> 00:00:33,033
TYSON: To be human has been
to know the torment of hunger.
4
00:00:36,253 --> 00:00:39,303
There was once a man who
dreamed that through science,
5
00:00:39,778 --> 00:00:42,958
we could make a
world where no one would
ever perish from hunger.
6
00:00:43,130 --> 00:00:45,610
And famine would be no more.
7
00:00:45,784 --> 00:00:48,614
He gave us a treasure
to fulfil that promise,
8
00:00:48,787 --> 00:00:51,657
but he faced a terrible
choice at a moment of reckoning.
9
00:00:52,313 --> 00:00:54,843
To lie about science and live,
10
00:00:55,011 --> 00:00:58,621
or to tell the truth
and face certain death.
11
00:01:00,060 --> 00:01:05,540
[theme music plays]
12
00:01:24,867 --> 00:01:31,267
♪ ♪
13
00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:55,900
♪ ♪
14
00:02:10,217 --> 00:02:12,827
TYSON: For the first couple of
hundred thousand years that
15
00:02:13,002 --> 00:02:16,442
we were human,
we were wanderers living
beneath the stars.
16
00:02:17,702 --> 00:02:20,052
We gathered plant
life and hunted animals.
17
00:02:20,749 --> 00:02:23,529
Until about ten
or 12,000 years ago,
18
00:02:24,013 --> 00:02:26,893
when our ancestors
invented a new way to live.
19
00:02:27,886 --> 00:02:31,186
Think of those geniuses who
were the first to realize that
20
00:02:31,368 --> 00:02:33,758
inside the
plants they foraged,
21
00:02:33,936 --> 00:02:36,026
was a means to
make another plant.
22
00:02:37,069 --> 00:02:39,249
A seed.
23
00:02:40,769 --> 00:02:43,549
[thunder]
24
00:02:43,728 --> 00:02:46,118
[rain]
25
00:02:46,862 --> 00:02:51,172
That discovery led to the
single most fateful choice
our species ever made.
26
00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,220
They could continue
to wander in small bands,
27
00:02:55,697 --> 00:02:58,737
or they could settle down
to grow and raise their food.
28
00:02:59,570 --> 00:03:03,710
This required sacrifices
for rewards that would
not come until much later.
29
00:03:05,141 --> 00:03:08,451
For the first time, we were
thinking about the future.
30
00:03:12,453 --> 00:03:14,633
Of course, these decisions
weren't made in an instant.
31
00:03:15,412 --> 00:03:17,852
They unfolded
over generations.
32
00:03:18,154 --> 00:03:20,774
That seems like a long
time ago in human terms,
33
00:03:21,331 --> 00:03:23,641
but in the great
sweep of cosmic time,
34
00:03:23,812 --> 00:03:26,212
it was less than
a half a minute ago.
35
00:03:27,598 --> 00:03:31,818
This Cosmic Calendar
compresses all of the
last 13.8 billion years
36
00:03:32,690 --> 00:03:35,780
since the big bang into a
single calendar Earth year.
37
00:03:36,433 --> 00:03:39,963
Midnight on
December 31 is right now.
38
00:03:40,785 --> 00:03:44,345
Every month is a little
more than a billion years.
39
00:03:45,225 --> 00:03:48,395
Every day, a little
less than 40 million years.
40
00:03:49,011 --> 00:03:52,751
And all of humanity's
proudest achievements unfold
41
00:03:52,928 --> 00:03:55,968
in the last couple
of minutes of cosmic time.
42
00:03:56,758 --> 00:03:59,328
That's how new we
are to the universe.
43
00:04:01,284 --> 00:04:04,034
Our ancestors began to
domesticate animals and
44
00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,640
plants less than
30 seconds ago on
the Cosmic Calendar.
45
00:04:08,683 --> 00:04:11,773
For the first time, the
wanderers were settling down.
46
00:04:12,774 --> 00:04:15,914
And building things to last
for more than a single season.
47
00:04:16,821 --> 00:04:19,221
They dared to
touch the future.
48
00:04:20,347 --> 00:04:23,177
Their tower of
Jericho still stands.
49
00:04:23,611 --> 00:04:26,181
Was it a watchtower
for protecting
the city from invaders?
50
00:04:27,049 --> 00:04:29,399
Or just a way to get
closer to the stars?
51
00:04:31,053 --> 00:04:34,143
It took 11,000
work days to build.
52
00:04:35,057 --> 00:04:36,797
Something that could
only be possible with the
53
00:04:36,972 --> 00:04:39,842
food surpluses that
agriculture provided.
54
00:04:42,064 --> 00:04:44,724
This is the
world's oldest stairway.
55
00:04:45,807 --> 00:04:51,987
It was already 5,000 years
old before the first
Egyptian pyramid was built.
56
00:04:52,161 --> 00:04:56,341
To climb it is to
follow in the footsteps
of 300 generations.
57
00:04:58,428 --> 00:05:02,428
Isn't it astonishing
that people who had
barely ceased wandering,
58
00:05:02,606 --> 00:05:05,476
we're able to create
something of such permanence?
59
00:05:13,617 --> 00:05:16,267
The rich and varied
hunter-gatherer diet,
60
00:05:16,446 --> 00:05:19,446
of plants, insects, birds
and other animals, was replaced.
61
00:05:21,190 --> 00:05:25,150
City dwellers
largely subsisted on
a few carbohydrate crops.
62
00:05:25,977 --> 00:05:28,937
And when the rains didn't come
or a fungus afflicted the grain,
63
00:05:29,894 --> 00:05:32,384
there was hunger
on a massive scale.
64
00:05:32,549 --> 00:05:34,379
Famine.
65
00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:40,820
Famines caused by drought and
British colonial mismanagement
66
00:05:41,341 --> 00:05:45,261
in India in the 18th century
killed ten million people.
67
00:05:46,433 --> 00:05:48,913
In China, during the
famines of the 19th century,
68
00:05:49,784 --> 00:05:52,664
more than 100 million
people perished.
69
00:05:53,831 --> 00:05:55,921
The great hunger in Ireland,
70
00:05:56,094 --> 00:05:58,454
also a result of
British imperial policy,
71
00:05:58,619 --> 00:06:00,749
starved a million to death and
72
00:06:00,925 --> 00:06:04,405
forced another two million
to flee the country
in search of a living.
73
00:06:05,408 --> 00:06:10,148
The Brazilian drought
and pestilence of
1877 was comparable.
74
00:06:10,500 --> 00:06:14,370
In a single province,
more than half
died of starvation.
75
00:06:14,939 --> 00:06:18,249
The dead remain uncounted
from the famines that wracked
76
00:06:18,421 --> 00:06:22,381
Ethiopia, Rwanda
and the Sahel in Africa.
77
00:06:23,731 --> 00:06:25,911
For a couple
of thousand years,
78
00:06:26,081 --> 00:06:29,951
ever since records were kept,
somewhere on Earth,
79
00:06:30,128 --> 00:06:32,908
people in great
numbers have starved.
80
00:06:37,353 --> 00:06:41,883
Could agriculture become
a science with a predictive
theory as reliable as gravity?
81
00:06:43,141 --> 00:06:47,841
One that could consistently
produce breeds able to
stand up to drought and disease?
82
00:06:49,104 --> 00:06:52,374
Farmers and herders knew
the advantages of preferentially
83
00:06:52,542 --> 00:06:55,632
selecting the hardiest
specimens for crossbreeding,
84
00:06:55,806 --> 00:06:58,326
to produce a more
successful hybrid.
85
00:06:58,505 --> 00:07:00,805
This was known as
artificial selection.
86
00:07:01,812 --> 00:07:04,382
But the mechanism of how
those traits were passed on to
87
00:07:04,554 --> 00:07:07,954
succeeding generations
remained a complete mystery.
88
00:07:09,646 --> 00:07:12,036
This is Down House.
89
00:07:12,344 --> 00:07:14,614
Charles Darwin's home,
where he lived with his wife
90
00:07:14,782 --> 00:07:17,182
Emma and their ten children.
91
00:07:17,349 --> 00:07:20,349
He was hardly the
authoritarian
Victorian patriarch.
92
00:07:20,918 --> 00:07:24,008
But instead a tender,
loving father who delighted
93
00:07:24,182 --> 00:07:25,972
in his children's ridicule.
94
00:07:27,969 --> 00:07:30,279
This is the garden he planted.
95
00:07:31,102 --> 00:07:34,452
This place is a strangely
pastoral setting for the most
96
00:07:34,628 --> 00:07:37,458
influential revolutionary
in the history of thought.
97
00:07:39,067 --> 00:07:43,197
Even now, there are people
who are afraid of his idea.
98
00:07:48,293 --> 00:07:51,433
Charles Darwin discovered
that species, including ours,
99
00:07:52,254 --> 00:07:55,614
evolve over time through a
process of natural selection.
100
00:07:56,388 --> 00:07:59,168
The environment rewards those
best adapted to its changing
101
00:07:59,348 --> 00:08:03,828
realities with survival and with
new generations of offspring.
102
00:08:04,353 --> 00:08:08,053
Darwin demystified the
external reality of life,
103
00:08:08,836 --> 00:08:12,966
but no one had any idea
what the inner mechanisms
of evolution were.
104
00:08:15,538 --> 00:08:17,978
At that same moment, an
abbot at a rural monastery
105
00:08:18,933 --> 00:08:23,373
in what is now the
Czech Republic was trying to
become a science professor.
106
00:08:24,068 --> 00:08:27,678
Gregor Mendel flunked his
qualifying exam both times.
107
00:08:28,551 --> 00:08:32,161
The only career
path open to him was to
become a substitute teacher.
108
00:08:32,990 --> 00:08:34,340
So in his spare time,
109
00:08:34,514 --> 00:08:36,694
he took up the
study of pea plants.
110
00:08:38,213 --> 00:08:40,433
He bred tens of
thousands of them,
111
00:08:40,607 --> 00:08:42,997
carefully scrutinizing
their height and their shape
112
00:08:43,653 --> 00:08:46,403
and the color of their pods,
their seeds and flowers.
113
00:08:48,571 --> 00:08:51,841
Mendel was searching for a
predictive theory of breeding.
114
00:08:52,009 --> 00:08:54,799
So that you could know in
advance exactly what you would
115
00:08:54,969 --> 00:08:58,059
get when you crossed a
tall plant with a short one,
116
00:08:58,233 --> 00:09:00,283
and a green pea
with a yellow one.
117
00:09:03,455 --> 00:09:06,675
Mendel found that you would
get a yellow pea every time.
118
00:09:10,158 --> 00:09:12,248
We didn't have a word for
the power of the yellow over
119
00:09:12,421 --> 00:09:14,161
the green until
Mendel coined it.
120
00:09:14,989 --> 00:09:17,599
He called that
quality "dominant."
121
00:09:17,992 --> 00:09:20,822
And to his delight, he found
that he could predict what would
122
00:09:20,995 --> 00:09:23,685
happen in the next
generation of peas after that.
123
00:09:26,348 --> 00:09:29,128
One in four pea
plants would be green.
124
00:09:30,526 --> 00:09:34,746
Mendel named the hidden
trait that popped up in
the next crop, "recessive."
125
00:09:35,792 --> 00:09:38,102
There was something
he called "factors,"
126
00:09:38,447 --> 00:09:42,277
hidden inside
the plants that caused
particular characteristics.
127
00:09:42,930 --> 00:09:45,850
And they operated by a law
that Mendel could describe
128
00:09:46,020 --> 00:09:48,590
with a simple
equation, like gravity.
129
00:09:51,286 --> 00:09:53,806
Charles Darwin and
Gregor Mendel didn't know it,
130
00:09:53,984 --> 00:09:56,384
but the two scientists were
deciphering the mysterious
131
00:09:56,552 --> 00:09:59,692
workings of life at
the very same moment.
132
00:10:02,210 --> 00:10:05,520
[barking]
133
00:10:05,692 --> 00:10:08,562
Darwin presented the evidence
for a oneness with all life.
134
00:10:09,434 --> 00:10:12,094
That despite our pretensions
to a mystical higher birth,
135
00:10:13,047 --> 00:10:16,527
we were actually relatives to
the other beasts and vegetables.
136
00:10:17,181 --> 00:10:20,621
As much a part of the natural
world as any other living thing.
137
00:10:24,058 --> 00:10:26,628
Mendel discovered that
there were laws governing the
138
00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,500
way life's
messages were passed on.
139
00:10:29,846 --> 00:10:33,016
The substitute teacher
had invented a whole
new field of science.
140
00:10:34,938 --> 00:10:37,898
But nobody
noticed for 35 years.
141
00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:42,640
He died never knowing that
the world would come to see him
142
00:10:42,816 --> 00:10:45,166
as a giant in the
history of science.
143
00:10:46,907 --> 00:10:48,867
Mendel's work was
resurrected at the beginning of
144
00:10:49,039 --> 00:10:52,779
the 20th century and he
had no more vigorous defender
145
00:10:52,956 --> 00:10:55,736
than the British
zoologist William Bateson.
146
00:10:56,612 --> 00:10:59,662
It was Bateson who named the
new field of science devoted
147
00:10:59,833 --> 00:11:02,143
to studying these factors.
148
00:11:02,313 --> 00:11:04,143
Genetics.
149
00:11:05,099 --> 00:11:06,839
Bateson and his
colleagues worked on developing
150
00:11:07,014 --> 00:11:09,844
new breeds of
plants and animals.
151
00:11:10,713 --> 00:11:14,463
He believed that science
and freedom were indivisible
152
00:11:14,717 --> 00:11:17,237
and that's how
he ran his laboratory.
153
00:11:18,416 --> 00:11:19,896
[inaudible chatter].
154
00:11:20,070 --> 00:11:21,810
TYSON: Nikolai
Ivanovich Vavilov,
155
00:11:21,985 --> 00:11:23,635
a visiting
botanist from Russia,
156
00:11:23,813 --> 00:11:26,123
took Bateson's
credo deeply to heart.
157
00:11:26,294 --> 00:11:28,784
He wanted to use the
new field of genetics to learn
158
00:11:28,949 --> 00:11:31,389
how to feed the world.
159
00:11:32,343 --> 00:11:35,913
He was on his honeymoon
but science was his passion.
160
00:11:36,173 --> 00:11:39,183
Even as a child,
Vavilov had a sense of urgency.
161
00:11:40,177 --> 00:11:43,917
"Too little time,
too much to do,"
was his lifelong refrain.
162
00:11:45,095 --> 00:11:47,485
[panting].
163
00:11:51,145 --> 00:11:52,615
[grunts].
164
00:11:55,671 --> 00:11:57,981
TYSON: How could he have
known what was coming?
165
00:12:06,682 --> 00:12:09,822
TYSON: The idea that our
planet is a single organism,
166
00:12:09,990 --> 00:12:13,600
a unity, has a ring of hollow
sentimentality for many people.
167
00:12:14,995 --> 00:12:17,475
But it's just
a scientific fact.
168
00:12:19,521 --> 00:12:22,871
Something is
about to happen here,
in remote Southern Peru,
169
00:12:24,004 --> 00:12:28,624
in the year 1600 on
February 19 at 5:00 PM.
170
00:12:30,532 --> 00:12:33,752
Unsuspecting multitudes
and distant foreign capitals
171
00:12:33,927 --> 00:12:37,187
will never know how this
event reached around the world
172
00:12:37,365 --> 00:12:39,495
to torment and kill them.
173
00:12:40,194 --> 00:12:41,634
[explosion]
174
00:12:50,900 --> 00:12:54,470
This nasty mixture of
sulfuric acid and volcanic ash
175
00:12:54,643 --> 00:12:57,603
will block the sun's
rays from reaching Earth.
176
00:12:58,125 --> 00:13:01,515
Some of the sunlight
will be absorbed here
in the stratosphere.
177
00:13:02,738 --> 00:13:06,738
The eruption of Huaynaputina
volcano remains to this day
178
00:13:06,916 --> 00:13:10,266
the largest explosion
in South America in
recorded history.
179
00:13:14,576 --> 00:13:16,486
Winter is coming.
180
00:13:17,622 --> 00:13:19,842
Volcanic winter.
181
00:13:25,021 --> 00:13:26,461
For the people of Russia,
182
00:13:26,631 --> 00:13:29,591
it brought the worst
winter in six centuries.
183
00:13:29,852 --> 00:13:32,332
For two years, even the
summer temperatures would fall
184
00:13:32,507 --> 00:13:34,417
below freezing at night.
185
00:13:34,726 --> 00:13:37,596
Two million people, a
third of Russia's population,
186
00:13:37,773 --> 00:13:39,953
would die from
the resulting famine.
187
00:13:40,210 --> 00:13:43,300
It led to the downfall of
the Tsar Boris Godunov and
188
00:13:43,474 --> 00:13:47,654
all because of
a volcano that erupted
8,000 miles away in Peru.
189
00:13:49,132 --> 00:13:52,272
This was not the last
famine in Russian history.
190
00:13:52,527 --> 00:13:54,657
Drought and
famines occur frequently.
191
00:13:54,834 --> 00:13:57,454
But it wasn't until
nearly three centuries later,
192
00:13:57,619 --> 00:14:01,709
in 1891, that the magnitude of
suffering was again as ghastly.
193
00:14:03,668 --> 00:14:06,798
Winter came early that
year and the crops failed.
194
00:14:07,890 --> 00:14:11,070
Tsar Alexander III
was slow to respond.
195
00:14:11,459 --> 00:14:14,589
Wealthy Russian merchants
continued to export grain at
196
00:14:14,766 --> 00:14:17,676
a profit even as
millions went hungry.
197
00:14:18,466 --> 00:14:21,986
All the Tsar had to
offer his starving subjects
was "famine bread."
198
00:14:23,297 --> 00:14:27,817
A miserable mixture of
moss, weeds, bark and husks.
199
00:14:30,304 --> 00:14:32,704
Half a million
Russians perished,
200
00:14:32,872 --> 00:14:35,002
while the aristocracy and
the wealthy feasted on fresh
201
00:14:35,178 --> 00:14:38,748
strawberries from
the south of France and
clotted cream from England.
202
00:14:39,879 --> 00:14:43,839
The Russian Revolution
would not explode
for another 30 years,
203
00:14:44,013 --> 00:14:47,103
but many historians
believe that this famine
204
00:14:47,277 --> 00:14:50,847
was the spark that
ignited the long fuse.
205
00:14:51,673 --> 00:14:54,333
It was to make a lasting
impression on the hero of
206
00:14:54,502 --> 00:14:58,032
our story, Nikolai Vavilov.
207
00:15:01,335 --> 00:15:03,505
This is the Vavilov family.
208
00:15:03,685 --> 00:15:05,985
The parents were born into
poverty but had worked their
209
00:15:06,166 --> 00:15:07,986
way up into the
upper middle class.
210
00:15:08,777 --> 00:15:11,477
All four of the children would
grow up to become scientists.
211
00:15:12,215 --> 00:15:13,825
[gasping].
212
00:15:16,567 --> 00:15:18,917
TYSON: Sergey
became a physicist.
213
00:15:25,533 --> 00:15:27,623
Nikolai grew up
to be a botanist.
214
00:15:28,188 --> 00:15:30,358
[screams].
215
00:15:35,978 --> 00:15:37,808
NIKOLAI: Don't come near me.
216
00:15:37,980 --> 00:15:40,290
If you touch me, I'll jump.
217
00:15:41,070 --> 00:15:44,770
TYSON: Even as a boy, Vavilov
was never one to back down.
218
00:15:46,336 --> 00:15:49,726
In 1911, Russia was the
largest grain exporter on Earth,
219
00:15:50,471 --> 00:15:53,301
despite the fact that its
farming methods were antiquated.
220
00:15:53,778 --> 00:15:56,478
The Petrovsky Institute was
the only place in Russia where
221
00:15:56,651 --> 00:15:59,351
scientists could hope to
modernize food production
222
00:15:59,523 --> 00:16:01,223
through the new
science of genetics.
223
00:16:02,439 --> 00:16:05,489
But it was still a
matter of controversy.
224
00:16:05,660 --> 00:16:07,230
YELENA: Debate topic for today,
225
00:16:07,401 --> 00:16:10,271
is plant selection
a science or not?
226
00:16:10,839 --> 00:16:11,969
MAN: It is not a science.
227
00:16:12,145 --> 00:16:13,705
A farmer knows best.
228
00:16:13,885 --> 00:16:16,185
He's been sowing the
larger seeds and crossbreeding
229
00:16:16,366 --> 00:16:18,586
the fattest animals
for thousands of years.
230
00:16:19,717 --> 00:16:21,807
What do we scientists
have to offer them?
231
00:16:22,285 --> 00:16:24,935
Except fancy equations
to confuse the peasants.
232
00:16:25,854 --> 00:16:28,814
They don't want that.
They want bread.
233
00:16:28,988 --> 00:16:32,298
VAVILOV: The farmer has wisdom
and is worthy of our respect.
234
00:16:32,469 --> 00:16:35,859
But tragically, he lacks the
predictive powers of science.
235
00:16:36,386 --> 00:16:38,386
They cannot foretell
which traits will dominate
236
00:16:38,562 --> 00:16:40,302
or which will be recessive.
237
00:16:40,912 --> 00:16:43,922
The farmer plays roulette
and he's about as successful
238
00:16:44,090 --> 00:16:45,700
as the average gambler.
239
00:16:51,445 --> 00:16:54,485
Gregor Mendel made it possible
for him to know the odds.
240
00:16:54,796 --> 00:16:57,756
To know what number
the ball will land on.
241
00:16:58,147 --> 00:17:01,057
The moment Mendel expressed
his ideas mathematically,
242
00:17:01,629 --> 00:17:04,719
agriculture became a
science and our only hope
243
00:17:04,893 --> 00:17:07,203
to efficiently
feed ourselves.
244
00:17:07,548 --> 00:17:09,508
And feed the world.
245
00:17:13,641 --> 00:17:16,171
TYSON: In 1914, during
the First World War,
246
00:17:17,253 --> 00:17:19,913
Vavilov began to wonder.
247
00:17:20,082 --> 00:17:22,262
Where did the domesticated
plants come from?
248
00:17:23,433 --> 00:17:25,963
Who were their ancestors?
249
00:17:26,654 --> 00:17:28,574
In a love letter he wrote...
250
00:17:28,743 --> 00:17:31,353
VAVILOV: I really
believe deeply in science.
251
00:17:31,615 --> 00:17:34,525
It is my life and
the purpose of my life.
252
00:17:35,489 --> 00:17:38,189
[gunfire and explosions]
253
00:17:39,058 --> 00:17:43,628
I do not hesitate to
give my life even for the
smallest bit of science.
254
00:17:45,847 --> 00:17:48,277
TYSON: The First World War
revealed the deep cracks in
255
00:17:48,458 --> 00:17:52,638
Russian society and
spurred the outbreak of
revolution and civil war.
256
00:17:54,203 --> 00:17:56,953
Vavilov established the
first of his 400 scientific
257
00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,509
institutes where
the children of peasants and
258
00:17:59,687 --> 00:18:01,857
laborers became scientists.
259
00:18:02,342 --> 00:18:06,172
All in the
service of Vavilov's
dream of ending famine.
260
00:18:07,129 --> 00:18:11,309
In 1920, Vavilov dared to
propose a new law of nature.
261
00:18:13,570 --> 00:18:16,400
VAVILOV: Comrades,
the same genes perform the
262
00:18:16,573 --> 00:18:19,663
same functions in
different species of plants.
263
00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:23,450
This is because they
share a common ancestor.
264
00:18:24,190 --> 00:18:27,410
In order to understand
evolution and to guide our
265
00:18:27,584 --> 00:18:30,944
breeding work scientifically,
we must go to the oldest
266
00:18:31,110 --> 00:18:35,550
agricultural countries
where these common
ancestors may still live.
267
00:18:36,550 --> 00:18:38,290
KRIYER: Russia shall not
perish as long as there are
268
00:18:38,465 --> 00:18:40,415
people like Nikolai Vavilov!
269
00:18:40,597 --> 00:18:42,117
[cheering].
270
00:18:42,295 --> 00:18:44,245
TYSON: Vavilov was
now world famous.
271
00:18:44,427 --> 00:18:46,077
VAVILOV: Me,
I'm nothing special.
272
00:18:46,255 --> 00:18:48,555
It's my brother
Sergey, the physicist,
273
00:18:48,736 --> 00:18:51,086
who's the brilliant one.
274
00:18:51,347 --> 00:18:55,657
TYSON: Vavilov knew that
every seedling contains its
species' unique message.
275
00:18:56,613 --> 00:18:58,223
The content's different,
276
00:18:58,398 --> 00:19:00,698
but they were all written
in a mysterious language.
277
00:19:00,878 --> 00:19:03,838
One that would not
be deciphered for decades.
278
00:19:04,230 --> 00:19:08,150
Vavilov wanted to
preserve every phrase of
life's ancient scripture,
279
00:19:08,886 --> 00:19:11,496
to ensure its safe
passage to the future.
280
00:19:12,281 --> 00:19:15,941
He was among the
first to grasp the critical
importance of biodiversity.
281
00:19:17,243 --> 00:19:20,293
Vavilov came up with
an entirely new concept.
282
00:19:20,463 --> 00:19:23,553
A world seed bank that he
hoped would be impervious
283
00:19:23,727 --> 00:19:26,027
to war and
natural catastrophe.
284
00:19:26,861 --> 00:19:30,211
And there was
a scientific underpinning
to this humanitarian goal.
285
00:19:31,474 --> 00:19:35,004
If you could find the
earliest living specimens
of the plants we eat,
286
00:19:35,435 --> 00:19:39,345
you could parse its sentences
and decipher life's language.
287
00:19:39,613 --> 00:19:42,363
You could know how
it changed over time.
288
00:19:42,529 --> 00:19:46,449
This decryption would make it
possible to write new messages.
289
00:19:46,794 --> 00:19:48,584
To grow food
immune to disease,
290
00:19:48,752 --> 00:19:51,632
fungus and insects
and resistant to drought.
291
00:19:52,103 --> 00:19:56,113
Vavilov would become a hunter
of plants on five continents,
292
00:19:56,282 --> 00:20:00,112
venturing to places no
scientist dared go before him.
293
00:20:04,855 --> 00:20:08,025
Without maps or roads,
Vavilov was the first European
294
00:20:08,207 --> 00:20:11,337
in modern times to venture
into the mountainous
regions of Afghanistan.
295
00:20:12,950 --> 00:20:16,130
Riddled with tribal
clashes and other dangers,
296
00:20:16,302 --> 00:20:19,522
Vavilov was suspicious of
the prevalent hypothesis that
297
00:20:19,696 --> 00:20:22,476
humans invented
agriculture in the river deltas.
298
00:20:23,526 --> 00:20:26,226
He reasoned that remote
mountain strongholds would
299
00:20:26,399 --> 00:20:28,709
be a much
safer place to farm.
300
00:20:28,879 --> 00:20:31,839
Far from the casual
plundering of passersby.
301
00:20:32,318 --> 00:20:34,148
As Vavilov risked
life and limb,
302
00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,800
searching for seeds
on five continents,
303
00:20:36,974 --> 00:20:40,804
his legend as a daredevil
equalled his reputation
for scientific genius.
304
00:20:45,983 --> 00:20:49,993
In 1927, in what was then
Abyssinia, now Ethiopia,
305
00:20:51,032 --> 00:20:53,992
Vavilov discovered the
mother of all coffee.
306
00:20:54,165 --> 00:20:55,905
It was a good thing too.
307
00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,820
Because he needed
to stay awake all night
guarding the camp.
308
00:21:08,745 --> 00:21:11,265
[yelling].
309
00:21:28,417 --> 00:21:31,987
TYSON: As Vavilov
waited for permission
to travel into the interior,
310
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:34,380
he was surprised to
receive an invitation from
311
00:21:34,554 --> 00:21:38,954
the regent and future
emperor of Ethiopia, Rastafari.
312
00:21:39,689 --> 00:21:43,299
Or as the world would come
to know him, Haile Selassie.
313
00:21:44,215 --> 00:21:46,035
Vavilov later recalled...
314
00:21:46,217 --> 00:21:47,737
VAVILOV: It was
just the two of us.
315
00:21:47,915 --> 00:21:50,565
He questioned me with
great interest about my country
316
00:21:50,744 --> 00:21:52,444
and its revolution.
317
00:21:52,615 --> 00:21:56,045
I informed him that Lenin,
our founder, had died,
318
00:21:56,227 --> 00:21:58,357
and Joseph Stalin now ruled.
319
00:21:58,534 --> 00:22:02,674
I told Rastafari how Stalin's
armed robbery of a bank had
320
00:22:02,843 --> 00:22:05,673
raised $3 million for the
revolution and made him
321
00:22:05,846 --> 00:22:08,806
a folk hero in
Russia 20 years before.
322
00:22:10,329 --> 00:22:13,939
TYSON: As Vavilov
continued his global quest
for seeds and knowledge,
323
00:22:14,420 --> 00:22:17,030
Trofim Lysenko,
one of Vavilov's numerous
324
00:22:17,205 --> 00:22:20,155
protégé's was beginning
to make a name for himself.
325
00:22:22,645 --> 00:22:24,945
ANNOUNCER: Fresh green
peas in the wintertime?
326
00:22:25,344 --> 00:22:27,614
Sound too good to be true?
327
00:22:27,781 --> 00:22:31,261
Not if barefoot plant
expert Trofim Lysenko has
anything to say about it.
328
00:22:31,872 --> 00:22:36,532
No universities or
staring at the hairy legs of
flies in laboratories for him.
329
00:22:37,268 --> 00:22:40,708
No lavish trips to
foreign lands in pursuit
of ancient asparagus.
330
00:22:41,664 --> 00:22:44,894
He does it the peasant way
in the fields of Mother Russia.
331
00:22:45,451 --> 00:22:48,981
And there'll be green
peas on the table this
January thanks to him.
332
00:22:50,847 --> 00:22:52,977
TYSON: As Joseph Stalin
was having all his political
333
00:22:53,154 --> 00:22:55,374
rivals systematically murdered,
334
00:22:55,678 --> 00:22:58,678
he began to slash
away at the structure
of Russian agriculture.
335
00:22:59,465 --> 00:23:03,285
His stated goal was to
modernize Soviet agriculture.
336
00:23:03,469 --> 00:23:05,509
But the result
was catastrophic.
337
00:23:07,081 --> 00:23:08,821
Stalin ordered the Kulaks,
338
00:23:09,300 --> 00:23:11,130
as the more prosperous
peasants were known,
339
00:23:11,302 --> 00:23:13,522
to be liquidated as a class.
340
00:23:13,914 --> 00:23:16,744
Between five and ten million
people perished of famine.
341
00:23:18,048 --> 00:23:22,658
But to Trofim Lysenko,
this massive tragedy
was an opportunity.
342
00:23:23,358 --> 00:23:26,578
Lysenko hated Vavilov
for his knowledge and fame,
343
00:23:27,318 --> 00:23:29,148
and like the
snake that he was;
344
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,370
he knew exactly
when to strike.
345
00:23:32,193 --> 00:23:35,153
And ultimately,
his venom would be fatal.
346
00:23:42,508 --> 00:23:45,338
VAVILOV: The Garden of Eden
must have been somewhere near
347
00:23:45,511 --> 00:23:49,691
here in central
Asia because this is where
the first apples grow.
348
00:23:51,255 --> 00:23:54,165
TYSON: Vavilov traveled the
world identifying the first
349
00:23:54,345 --> 00:23:56,905
places on Earth
to bear these seeds.
350
00:23:57,610 --> 00:24:00,870
Collecting samples
of each for safekeeping.
351
00:24:01,048 --> 00:24:05,048
All in all, Vavilov
brought back a quarter of a
million varieties of seeds.
352
00:24:12,363 --> 00:24:15,803
The Russia Vavilov returned
to was a different country.
353
00:24:16,150 --> 00:24:18,890
One in the grip of
the most vicious famine
it had ever known.
354
00:24:20,328 --> 00:24:24,638
The heady optimism of the
revolution had been replaced
with dread and despair.
355
00:24:26,552 --> 00:24:28,822
Vavilov's institute
of plant industry,
356
00:24:28,989 --> 00:24:31,509
in the city that was
then called Leningrad,
357
00:24:31,687 --> 00:24:34,777
was now the largest collection
of genetic information on Earth.
358
00:24:37,432 --> 00:24:40,962
His team began to sort and
catalogue every precious seed.
359
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:43,090
They worked tirelessly,
360
00:24:43,264 --> 00:24:46,014
as if the life of every
hungry Russian depended on them.
361
00:24:51,011 --> 00:24:54,141
[inaudible chatter].
362
00:24:54,580 --> 00:24:56,840
LYSENKO: Comrade Stalin.
363
00:24:57,017 --> 00:24:59,667
I have something of vital
importance to our nation's
security to tell you.
364
00:25:05,895 --> 00:25:08,805
I know why the country starves
and I know how to turn famine
365
00:25:08,985 --> 00:25:11,675
into plenty so that you
may triumph over all those who
366
00:25:11,858 --> 00:25:14,028
seek to undermine you.
367
00:25:14,295 --> 00:25:16,035
STALIN: Well then,
Comrade Lysenko,
368
00:25:16,210 --> 00:25:18,390
you must be a
very powerful man.
369
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,780
LYSENKO: The scientists
are lying to you.
370
00:25:20,954 --> 00:25:24,874
Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel,
Nikolai Vavilov, all liars.
371
00:25:26,742 --> 00:25:30,312
Comrade, why do you think
the giraffe has a long neck?
372
00:25:31,138 --> 00:25:32,308
STALIN: A giraffe?
373
00:25:32,487 --> 00:25:34,707
Why are you wasting my time?
374
00:25:34,881 --> 00:25:37,621
So it can nibble on leaves
at the top of the trees?
375
00:25:37,797 --> 00:25:39,407
LYSENKO: Exactly.
376
00:25:39,581 --> 00:25:41,631
But the scientists say no.
377
00:25:41,801 --> 00:25:44,331
They believe in imaginary,
invisible entities called
378
00:25:44,499 --> 00:25:48,679
genes that somehow get changed
by equally invisible forces
379
00:25:48,851 --> 00:25:50,811
that tell the giraffe
to have a long neck
380
00:25:50,984 --> 00:25:53,464
and a chicken to
have a short one.
381
00:25:53,639 --> 00:25:56,509
I don't believe
in imaginary things.
382
00:25:56,859 --> 00:26:00,339
But Vavilov does and
that's why our people starve.
383
00:26:00,820 --> 00:26:03,610
While he's been off
collecting souvenirs,
384
00:26:03,910 --> 00:26:08,090
I've been devising a
way to give Mother Russia
the thing she needs most.
385
00:26:08,262 --> 00:26:10,962
A harvest of wheat
in the dead of winter.
386
00:26:12,788 --> 00:26:15,618
STALIN: If this is true,
if you really have this power...
387
00:26:15,835 --> 00:26:17,485
LYSENKO: I do, Comrade. I do.
388
00:26:17,663 --> 00:26:20,013
But I must have a free hand.
389
00:26:20,361 --> 00:26:23,491
No more interference from
the bourgeois geneticists.
390
00:26:23,973 --> 00:26:26,113
They are agents of our enemies.
391
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:30,460
They want to starve
Russia into submission.
392
00:26:33,548 --> 00:26:36,118
TYSON: That's not why
the giraffe's neck is long.
393
00:26:36,290 --> 00:26:38,770
How could Stalin have
fallen for that one?
394
00:26:38,945 --> 00:26:40,335
It was easy.
395
00:26:40,511 --> 00:26:43,211
He desperately
wanted to believe it.
396
00:26:43,732 --> 00:26:47,692
Lysenko was peddling the long
discredited theory of an early
397
00:26:47,867 --> 00:26:51,257
19th century naturalist
named Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.
398
00:26:52,349 --> 00:26:54,739
He believed that
acquired characteristics,
399
00:26:54,917 --> 00:26:57,307
let's say the length of a
giraffe's neck from straining
400
00:26:57,485 --> 00:26:59,175
to get at
those leaves up high,
401
00:26:59,356 --> 00:27:02,656
could be inherited
by the next generation.
402
00:27:02,838 --> 00:27:05,838
He failed to grasp that
it took millions of years of
403
00:27:06,015 --> 00:27:09,795
evolution and higher survival
rates among the generations of
404
00:27:09,976 --> 00:27:13,496
giraffes with even
slightly longer necks to result
405
00:27:13,675 --> 00:27:16,365
in a tall modern giraffe.
406
00:27:16,547 --> 00:27:20,157
This increasingly long neck
of the giraffe was due to random
407
00:27:20,334 --> 00:27:24,084
mutations in the genes
that happened to lead to
a more successful giraffe.
408
00:27:25,208 --> 00:27:28,078
Not their neck
stretching exertions.
409
00:27:28,255 --> 00:27:31,945
This had been Charles Darwin's
revolutionary insight.
410
00:27:32,128 --> 00:27:34,908
Evolution by
natural selection.
411
00:27:36,306 --> 00:27:39,176
Lysenko whispered in Stalin's
ear that he could fulfill
412
00:27:39,353 --> 00:27:42,883
a centuries old Russian
dream and end the famine that
413
00:27:43,052 --> 00:27:45,452
threatened Stalin's
grip on the country.
414
00:27:45,620 --> 00:27:49,150
Lysenko would soak the
wheat seeds in ice water
415
00:27:49,319 --> 00:27:52,629
so that they could still
thrive in the ice and snow.
416
00:27:52,801 --> 00:27:55,941
A process he
called vernalization.
417
00:27:56,413 --> 00:27:59,333
Lysenko falsely claimed
that the plants offspring
418
00:27:59,503 --> 00:28:02,073
would inherit the
resistance to cold.
419
00:28:02,245 --> 00:28:06,285
No time-consuming painstaking
crossbreeding required.
420
00:28:06,467 --> 00:28:09,037
Only one thing
stood in his way.
421
00:28:09,513 --> 00:28:13,563
Vavilov and his stubborn
adherence to genetics.
422
00:28:14,954 --> 00:28:17,614
The bitter irony was that
while Lysenko was spinning
423
00:28:17,783 --> 00:28:19,963
fantasies of
abundance for Stalin,
424
00:28:20,655 --> 00:28:23,435
Vavilov and his team were
crossing wheat species from
425
00:28:23,614 --> 00:28:26,314
higher altitudes that
actually would've resulted
426
00:28:26,487 --> 00:28:29,927
in heightened food
production in Russia.
427
00:28:30,534 --> 00:28:32,844
As Vavilov rushed
to the Kremlin,
428
00:28:33,015 --> 00:28:36,235
all he could think about was
the work that needed to be done.
429
00:28:36,671 --> 00:28:39,411
He was on a collision
course that would doom him
430
00:28:39,587 --> 00:28:41,497
and countless
others to starvation.
431
00:28:42,503 --> 00:28:46,333
[grunts].
432
00:28:51,033 --> 00:28:53,693
TYSON: Vavilov knew
that no man could witness
433
00:28:53,862 --> 00:28:56,742
Stalin's fear and
expect to live long.
434
00:29:05,874 --> 00:29:08,054
LILIYA: Nikolai Ivanovich,
I tell you, we are in
435
00:29:08,224 --> 00:29:10,104
the gravest danger.
436
00:29:10,270 --> 00:29:13,880
Three days ago,
the secret police came
for Yevgeny and Leonid.
437
00:29:14,535 --> 00:29:16,755
They haven't
been heard from since.
438
00:29:16,929 --> 00:29:19,189
Their wives are frantic.
439
00:29:19,366 --> 00:29:21,496
Lysenko takes every
opportunity to blame you
440
00:29:21,672 --> 00:29:23,332
for the famine.
441
00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:26,420
I tell you, we must stop
the experiments in genetics.
442
00:29:28,984 --> 00:29:31,334
VAVILOV: Carry on
quietly with your work.
443
00:29:31,508 --> 00:29:33,118
No matter what happens.
444
00:29:33,293 --> 00:29:34,603
We must hurry.
445
00:29:34,773 --> 00:29:37,083
We must be like
Michael Faraday,
446
00:29:37,253 --> 00:29:39,913
working hard and keeping
accurate notes of the results.
447
00:29:41,301 --> 00:29:44,571
If I disappear,
then you must take my place.
448
00:29:44,739 --> 00:29:47,919
The only thing that matters
is getting the science right.
449
00:29:48,090 --> 00:29:50,830
It is the only hope
of ending this famine
450
00:29:51,006 --> 00:29:53,096
and all the others to come.
451
00:29:53,269 --> 00:29:57,579
LILIYA: Comrade, they're going
to arrest you and all of us.
452
00:29:57,752 --> 00:30:00,622
VAVILOV: Then we better
work that much faster.
453
00:30:01,887 --> 00:30:04,447
TYSON: Stalin's forced
collectivization of farms
454
00:30:04,628 --> 00:30:08,328
in the Ukraine led to one
of the darkest chapters
in human history.
455
00:30:09,982 --> 00:30:13,512
It was a famine so severe
and widespread that instead of
456
00:30:13,681 --> 00:30:16,121
being known by
a year and a place,
457
00:30:16,292 --> 00:30:18,732
it was given a
name all its own.
458
00:30:19,426 --> 00:30:23,596
Holodomor, meaning the
extermination by hunger.
459
00:30:26,433 --> 00:30:29,573
Stalin's zeal to push the
kulak peasants off their farms
460
00:30:29,740 --> 00:30:32,920
and into factories had
become a policy of genocide.
461
00:30:34,267 --> 00:30:37,787
LYSENKO: Vavilov and
his geneticists continue
to speak against you.
462
00:30:38,445 --> 00:30:40,135
I cannot bear it.
463
00:30:40,316 --> 00:30:43,276
TYSON: Stalin knew that getting
rid of Vavilov might be trouble.
464
00:30:43,754 --> 00:30:46,504
The global scientific
community admired Vavilov for
465
00:30:46,670 --> 00:30:48,930
his ideas and his courage.
466
00:30:49,108 --> 00:30:51,628
They had even been willing
to move their international
467
00:30:51,806 --> 00:30:55,766
genetics congress to Moscow
when Stalin wouldn't let him
travel outside the country.
468
00:30:56,985 --> 00:30:59,465
STALIN: Discredit Vavilov first,
469
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:01,990
then you can do
with him as you wish.
470
00:31:03,731 --> 00:31:06,341
VAVILOV: I regret to
report that the biochemists
471
00:31:06,516 --> 00:31:09,476
are not yet able
to distinguish the
lentil from the pea by
472
00:31:09,650 --> 00:31:11,830
analyzing their proteins.
473
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,790
LYSENKO: I reckon that anyone
who tries them on their tongue
474
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,010
can tell a lentil from a pea.
475
00:31:17,788 --> 00:31:19,528
[laughter].
476
00:31:19,703 --> 00:31:22,493
VAVILOV: Comrade, we are unable
to distinguish them chemically.
477
00:31:22,663 --> 00:31:24,753
LYSENKO: What's the point of
being able to distinguish them
478
00:31:24,926 --> 00:31:27,276
chemically if you can
try them on your tongue?
479
00:31:27,581 --> 00:31:30,241
[laughter].
480
00:31:30,627 --> 00:31:33,327
TYSON: Lysenko now mounted
a relentless campaign against
481
00:31:33,500 --> 00:31:36,020
Vavilov and science.
482
00:31:36,503 --> 00:31:39,113
It came to a head
at a two-day conference.
483
00:31:39,462 --> 00:31:42,422
All the scientists and
enemies of science gathered to
484
00:31:42,596 --> 00:31:45,766
debate the future of
Soviet agricultural policy.
485
00:31:48,384 --> 00:31:51,134
LYSENKO [over PA]:
And so we shall soon
see how my method of soaking
486
00:31:51,300 --> 00:31:57,050
seeds of all kinds
in ice water shall lead
to a better fed Motherland.
487
00:31:59,308 --> 00:32:02,178
VAVILOV: What?
No experiments? No data?
488
00:32:02,790 --> 00:32:04,620
LYSENKO [over PA]:
Perhaps you haven't noticed.
489
00:32:04,792 --> 00:32:06,662
Your ranks are thinning.
490
00:32:06,837 --> 00:32:10,097
Vernalization is going to
provide a huge winter harvest.
491
00:32:10,711 --> 00:32:12,151
You are either
with our plan or...
492
00:32:12,321 --> 00:32:13,981
VAVILOV: You can
take me to the stake.
493
00:32:14,149 --> 00:32:15,629
You can set me on fire.
494
00:32:15,803 --> 00:32:17,943
But you can't make
me lie about science!
495
00:32:18,588 --> 00:32:20,158
[gasps].
496
00:32:21,983 --> 00:32:24,733
MAN: We've just witnessed
a man committing suicide.
497
00:32:24,899 --> 00:32:26,379
He's going to be arrested.
498
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,210
MAN 2: Arrested? For what?
499
00:32:28,381 --> 00:32:30,041
MAN: You just wait.
500
00:32:30,209 --> 00:32:32,339
That's the last you'll see
of this poor brilliant fool.
501
00:32:33,081 --> 00:32:35,211
TYSON: But Vavilov was no fool.
502
00:32:35,388 --> 00:32:37,128
In preparation
for what was coming,
503
00:32:37,303 --> 00:32:39,913
he had warned his
colleagues that they must ask
504
00:32:40,088 --> 00:32:43,178
for transfers to other
institutes to save themselves.
505
00:32:44,092 --> 00:32:46,662
His closest colleagues
valiantly refused to distance
506
00:32:46,834 --> 00:32:48,974
themselves from Vavilov.
507
00:32:51,273 --> 00:32:54,803
MAN: Comrade Vavilov,
you are needed back in Moscow.
508
00:32:55,060 --> 00:32:58,800
It seems you took some papers
that didn't belong to you.
509
00:32:58,977 --> 00:33:03,067
VAVILOV: Just let me
use the last of the light
to finish my work, please.
510
00:33:19,301 --> 00:33:22,741
KHVAT: This looks bad, Comrade.
Really bad.
511
00:33:23,914 --> 00:33:26,184
You've been up to
some serious mischief.
512
00:33:26,482 --> 00:33:28,792
You must've known you would
be found out soon or later.
513
00:33:29,094 --> 00:33:31,184
VAVILOV: What can you
possibly be talking about?
514
00:33:31,357 --> 00:33:32,657
KHVAT: Yes, yes.
515
00:33:32,836 --> 00:33:34,876
I'm sure you're
completely mystified.
516
00:33:35,056 --> 00:33:36,276
Don't be cute with me.
517
00:33:36,449 --> 00:33:38,019
You know why you are here.
518
00:33:38,190 --> 00:33:39,710
You have been arrested
as an active participant in
519
00:33:39,887 --> 00:33:43,197
a subversive anti-Soviet
organization and a spy for
520
00:33:43,369 --> 00:33:45,549
foreign intelligence services.
521
00:33:45,806 --> 00:33:46,716
Do you admit your guilt?
522
00:33:46,894 --> 00:33:48,904
VAVILOV: No. I do not.
523
00:33:49,070 --> 00:33:52,120
I declare categorically
that I have never engaged in
524
00:33:52,291 --> 00:33:55,421
espionage or any other
anti-Soviet activity.
525
00:33:56,425 --> 00:33:59,245
The testimony you cite are
of witnesses whom the state
526
00:33:59,428 --> 00:34:01,258
has already murdered.
527
00:34:01,430 --> 00:34:03,480
You know I am not a spy.
528
00:34:03,650 --> 00:34:06,090
You know I love my country.
529
00:34:06,392 --> 00:34:10,142
My real crime, my only
crime is a profound difference
530
00:34:10,309 --> 00:34:12,009
of scientific opinion.
531
00:34:16,402 --> 00:34:18,932
TYSON: Vavilov's tormentor
had plenty of experience
532
00:34:19,100 --> 00:34:21,710
softening up such
stubborn subjects.
533
00:34:22,190 --> 00:34:24,060
He started interrogating
Vavilov for ten,
534
00:34:24,236 --> 00:34:25,976
12 hours at a time.
535
00:34:26,151 --> 00:34:29,241
Usually rousing him out of his
bed in the middle of the night.
536
00:34:30,459 --> 00:34:32,159
He must've been tortured,
537
00:34:32,331 --> 00:34:35,331
because his legs
were so swollen,
538
00:34:35,508 --> 00:34:37,288
he was unable to walk.
539
00:34:38,641 --> 00:34:41,121
Vavilov would be dragged
back to his cell and crawl to
540
00:34:41,296 --> 00:34:44,906
a place on the floor and
just lie there, unable to move.
541
00:34:45,692 --> 00:34:49,652
It kept on for 1,700 hours,
more than 400 sessions.
542
00:34:50,610 --> 00:34:53,130
Until Vavilov finally broke.
543
00:34:54,396 --> 00:34:57,786
A year after his arrest,
he was sentenced to be shot.
544
00:34:59,532 --> 00:35:01,752
He was taken to the
place of his execution where
545
00:35:01,925 --> 00:35:04,095
he languished for months.
546
00:35:08,454 --> 00:35:11,154
Just when things
couldn't get any darker,
547
00:35:11,326 --> 00:35:13,976
an even greater
darkness descended.
548
00:35:17,202 --> 00:35:19,602
Hitler had broken his
nonaggression pact with
549
00:35:19,769 --> 00:35:23,029
Stalin, sending millions
of German troops and thousands
550
00:35:23,208 --> 00:35:24,948
of tanks to invade Russia.
551
00:35:26,385 --> 00:35:28,735
But the siege of Leningrad
was, by any metric,
552
00:35:29,518 --> 00:35:31,558
the most ghastly of all.
553
00:35:38,701 --> 00:35:42,531
This was the world's
genetic inheritance.
554
00:35:42,705 --> 00:35:44,875
The seeds of the plants
that had sustained us since
555
00:35:45,055 --> 00:35:47,185
the invention of agriculture.
556
00:35:47,362 --> 00:35:50,762
And Hitler, unlike Stalin,
knew that it was priceless.
557
00:35:57,024 --> 00:36:01,034
[explosions and
heavy artillery]
558
00:36:12,082 --> 00:36:15,782
[explosions]
559
00:36:32,364 --> 00:36:34,844
DMITRI: We don't
even know if he's alive.
560
00:36:35,018 --> 00:36:38,808
LILIYA: Until we do, we must
find it within ourselves to
561
00:36:38,979 --> 00:36:41,809
do as Nikolai Ivanovich would.
562
00:36:42,591 --> 00:36:46,641
If the siege lasts, our fellow
citizens will get very hungry.
563
00:36:47,944 --> 00:36:51,864
This building contains
several tons of edible material.
564
00:36:53,167 --> 00:36:56,867
We must figure out how
to protect every last seed
565
00:36:57,824 --> 00:37:01,184
for the time when the
world returns to its senses.
566
00:37:02,394 --> 00:37:07,234
TYSON: In all of history,
no team of scientists has ever
been tested so cruelly.
567
00:37:08,487 --> 00:37:13,487
They were pushed beyond
the breaking point and
yet they did not break.
568
00:37:19,498 --> 00:37:22,278
TYSON: On Christmas Day
alone in 1941,
569
00:37:22,457 --> 00:37:25,587
4,000 people starved
to death in Leningrad.
570
00:37:26,592 --> 00:37:30,162
The city had been under
siege by Hitler's army
for more than 100 days.
571
00:37:31,423 --> 00:37:36,043
The temperature was -40
degrees and the city's entire
infrastructure had collapsed.
572
00:37:37,994 --> 00:37:41,004
It was only a matter of time,
Hitler thought to himself,
573
00:37:41,171 --> 00:37:44,311
before Leningrad
succumbed to his will.
574
00:37:44,479 --> 00:37:48,829
No city could endure
such suffering for very long.
575
00:37:50,616 --> 00:37:52,396
TYSON: While Stalin fretted
over the safety of the
576
00:37:52,574 --> 00:37:54,714
artworks at the
Hermitage Museum,
577
00:37:54,881 --> 00:37:57,581
he never gave a single
thought to Vavilov's seed bank.
578
00:37:58,972 --> 00:38:02,672
But Hitler had already taken
the Louvre art museum of Paris.
579
00:38:02,845 --> 00:38:05,365
He coveted something
much more precious.
580
00:38:05,544 --> 00:38:07,374
Vavilov's treasure.
581
00:38:08,155 --> 00:38:11,195
Hitler had established a
special tactical unit of the SS,
582
00:38:11,376 --> 00:38:15,726
Russland-Sammelcommando,
the Russian collector commandos,
583
00:38:15,902 --> 00:38:17,952
to take control
of the seed bank and retrieve
584
00:38:18,121 --> 00:38:20,991
its living riches for
future use by the Third Reich.
585
00:38:21,647 --> 00:38:24,077
They waited at the ready,
like a pack of Dobermans,
586
00:38:24,258 --> 00:38:26,608
straining to be
unleashed on the institute.
587
00:38:27,348 --> 00:38:30,128
The botanists were now
down to a ration of two slices
588
00:38:30,308 --> 00:38:32,088
of bread per day.
589
00:38:32,266 --> 00:38:34,566
But still, they
continued their work.
590
00:38:34,921 --> 00:38:39,271
In a way, the German army
was the least of their worries.
591
00:38:39,447 --> 00:38:42,447
[yelling].
592
00:38:46,019 --> 00:38:48,059
KRIYER: If only
Vavilov were here.
593
00:38:48,238 --> 00:38:50,328
I feel so lost without him.
594
00:38:50,502 --> 00:38:54,202
STCHUKIN: Dear comrade,
as painful as it is,
595
00:38:54,375 --> 00:38:57,675
we must accept that
he's gone forever.
596
00:38:58,074 --> 00:39:00,994
TYSON: But Vavilov
was alive... barely.
597
00:39:02,383 --> 00:39:06,563
He had been moved to another
prison in another city.
598
00:39:06,822 --> 00:39:10,572
VAVILOV: I am 54 years old,
with a vast experience and
599
00:39:10,739 --> 00:39:13,919
knowledge in the
field of plant breeding.
600
00:39:14,743 --> 00:39:17,493
I would be happy to
devote myself entirely to
601
00:39:17,659 --> 00:39:19,879
the service of my country.
602
00:39:20,053 --> 00:39:24,803
I request and beg you to allow
me to work in my special field,
603
00:39:24,971 --> 00:39:27,631
even at the lowest level.
604
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:29,800
TYSON: But no
answer ever came.
605
00:39:29,976 --> 00:39:32,406
The state had
decided not to shoot him.
606
00:39:32,587 --> 00:39:34,887
They had a crueler fate
in mind for the man who did
607
00:39:35,068 --> 00:39:38,938
more than any other to
eliminate famine and hunger,
608
00:39:39,115 --> 00:39:42,465
he would be deliberately
and slowly starved to death.
609
00:39:47,472 --> 00:39:52,872
TYSON: 800,000 other
human beings had starved
to death in Leningrad.
610
00:39:53,129 --> 00:39:57,129
Besieged by the German forced
from September of 1941 until
611
00:39:57,307 --> 00:40:01,567
January of 1944, the
city somehow still managed
612
00:40:02,269 --> 00:40:05,529
to hold out against
the relentless assault.
613
00:40:06,012 --> 00:40:09,232
The meager rations of two
slices of bread a day had
614
00:40:09,407 --> 00:40:12,627
run out long before, and
the protectors of Vavilov's
615
00:40:12,801 --> 00:40:16,811
treasure began to succumb to
hunger amidst the plenty that
616
00:40:16,979 --> 00:40:20,329
their sacred honor
prevented them from consuming.
617
00:40:23,203 --> 00:40:26,733
Botanist Alexander Stchukin,
specialist in groundnuts.
618
00:40:45,051 --> 00:40:49,751
Liliya Rodina, expert on oats.
619
00:40:56,062 --> 00:41:01,242
Dimitry Ivanov,
world authority on rice.
620
00:41:06,072 --> 00:41:09,552
The botanists
perished from hunger,
621
00:41:09,728 --> 00:41:13,778
and yet not a grain of
rice in the collection
was unaccounted for.
622
00:41:33,403 --> 00:41:36,583
And what of Vavilov's
nemesis, Trofim Lysenko?
623
00:41:37,146 --> 00:41:39,446
He maintained his death
grip on Soviet agriculture
624
00:41:39,627 --> 00:41:42,667
and biology for
another two decades,
625
00:41:42,848 --> 00:41:45,458
until three of Russia's
most distinguished scientists
626
00:41:45,633 --> 00:41:49,683
publicly denounced
him for his pseudoscience
and his other crimes.
627
00:41:51,987 --> 00:41:55,337
And what of Vavilov's brother,
Sergey, the physicist?
628
00:41:56,339 --> 00:42:00,169
Stalin made him chairman of
the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
629
00:42:02,476 --> 00:42:05,696
After Stalin's death and
the recognition of the damage
630
00:42:05,871 --> 00:42:08,661
he and Lysenko had
done to the Soviet Union,
631
00:42:08,830 --> 00:42:13,050
Nikolai Vavilov could once
again be talked about in public.
632
00:42:13,313 --> 00:42:16,883
The Institute of Plant
Industry was renamed after him,
633
00:42:17,056 --> 00:42:20,096
and it still thrives.
634
00:42:20,363 --> 00:42:23,583
And this is here because
of his life and work.
635
00:42:23,758 --> 00:42:26,458
This Svalbard Global Seed
Vault is buried deep beneath
636
00:42:26,631 --> 00:42:28,851
the Earth at the
top of the world.
637
00:42:29,024 --> 00:42:34,254
It can hold
four and a half million
kinds of seeds underground.
638
00:42:34,639 --> 00:42:39,379
So why didn't the
botanists at the Institute
eat a single grain of rice?
639
00:42:39,774 --> 00:42:42,864
Why didn't they distribute
the seeds and nuts and potatoes
640
00:42:43,038 --> 00:42:46,088
to the people of Leningrad
who were dying of starvation
641
00:42:46,259 --> 00:42:48,169
every day for
more than two years?
642
00:42:50,263 --> 00:42:53,013
Did you eat today?
643
00:42:53,179 --> 00:42:56,439
If the answer is yes, then
you probably ate something that
644
00:42:56,617 --> 00:43:00,057
descended from the seeds that
the botanists died to protect.
645
00:43:01,491 --> 00:43:05,231
They gave their lives for us.
646
00:43:08,107 --> 00:43:14,417
If only our future
was as real and precious
to us as it was to them.
647
00:43:55,110 --> 00:43:57,460
Captioned by
Cotter Captioning Services.
55196
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.