The head of Russia's prestigious Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Alexander Kudryavtsev, has been dismissed by the country's science and higher education ministry. The controversial geneticist had stirred up a storm by claiming that humans once lived for centuries and that the shorter lifespans of modern humans are a result of their ancestors' sins. The influential Russian Orthodox Church has labeled Kudryavtsev's dismissal as religious discrimination.
The cause of Kudryavtsev's firing has not been officially given, but reports suggest that it stems from a presentation he delivered at a conference in 2023. During the conference, Kudryavtsev argued that humans in ancient times lived for around 900 years before the Biblical Flood. He attributed the decline in human lifespans to 'original, ancestral and personal sins' that are responsible for genetic diseases which shorten our lives. Shockingly, he also claimed that children can be held responsible for the sins of their fathers, up to the seventh generation.
