in 1933 the government of the soviet union, worried about persistent crop losses caused by stem rust, invited newton to leningrad at the behest of nikolai vavilov to "train fifty carefully selected students in the problems of rust research". she was there for three months, during which she enjoyed a privileged status similar to a russian official, and was shown every phase of plant research conducted at the lenin academy of agricultural sciences. vavilov had attempted to lure her to work in leningrad in 1930 by offering a generous salary, technical support, and a camel caravan for travel.