H.J. Muller (1890-1967)
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An American Nobel geneticist wrote Stalin a letter urging the state to breed better humans by artificial insemination.
Who they are
H.J. Muller (1890-1967), an American geneticist (and later Nobel laureate) who moved to the USSR.
What they do
In the engine he is the documented case of eugenics ideas being carried from the West into the Soviet Union.
How it works
Associated with Cold Spring Harbor, he relocated to the USSR in 1932 to assist a Soviet genetics program, and in a 1936 letter to Stalin advocated state-run 'positive eugenics' via artificial insemination, calling for it to be 'unhampered by bourgeois social and ideological fetters'; Stalin rejected it in favor of Lysenkoism and Muller fled in 1937.
Why it matters
He matters as a primary-document example of eugenics crossing borders — a Western scientist actively trying to install selective breeding as Soviet state policy.
The engine's record — word for word
American geneticist (Drosophila; later Nobel laureate), associated with Cold Spring Harbor; relocated to the USSR 1932 to assist Levit's apparatus. In 1936 wrote Stalin advocating state positive eugenics via artificial insemination ('unhampered by bourgeois social and ideological fetters'). Stalin rejected it for Lysenkoism; Muller fled 1937. The documented West->USSR eugenics transfer. Source: Muller's 1936 Letter to Stalin (Mankind Quarterly). [TIER: PRIMARY-DOCUMENT]
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