Ivan Petrovich Pavlov: a short biography. The main achievements, the contribution of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov to general psychology

None of the Russian scientists of the XIX-XX centuries, even D.I. Mendeleev, did not receive such fame abroad as academician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936). “This is a star that illuminates the world, shedding light on paths not yet explored,” HG Wells said about him. He was called "a romantic, almost legendary personality", "a citizen of the world". He was a member of 130 academies, universities and international societies. He is considered the recognized leader of the world physiological science, the favorite teacher of doctors, a true hero of creative work.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born in Ryazan on September 26, 1849 in the family of a priest. At the request of his parents, Pavlov graduated from a theological school, and in 1864 entered the Ryazan Theological Seminary.

However, he was destined for a different fate. In his father's extensive library, he once found a book by G.G. Levi's "Physiology of Everyday Life" with colorful illustrations that struck his imagination. Another strong impression on Ivan Petrovich in his youth was made by a book, which he later remembered with gratitude all his life. It was a study of the father of Russian physiology, Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov, "Reflexes of the brain." Perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to say that the theme of this book was the leitmotif of Pavlov's entire creative activity.

In 1869, he left the seminary and first entered the faculty of law, and then transferred to the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. Here, under the influence of the famous Russian physiologist Professor I.F. Ziona, he forever connected his life with physiology. After graduating from the university, I.P. Pavlov decided to expand his knowledge of physiology, in particular, human physiology and pathology. To this end, in 1874 he entered the Medical and Surgical Academy. Having brilliantly finished it, Pavlov received a two-year trip abroad. Upon arrival from abroad, he devoted himself entirely to science.

All works on physiology carried out by I.P. Pavlov for almost 65 years, are mainly grouped around three sections of physiology: the physiology of blood circulation, the physiology of digestion and the physiology of the brain. Pavlov introduced into practice a chronic experiment that made it possible to study the activity of a practically healthy organism. With the help of the developed method of conditioned reflexes, he established that the basis of mental activity is the physiological processes occurring in the cerebral cortex. Pavlov's studies of the physiology of higher nervous activity had a great influence on the development of physiology, psychology and pedagogy.

Works by I.P. Pavlov on blood circulation are mainly associated with his activities in the laboratory at the clinic of the famous Russian doctor Sergei Petrovich Botkin from 1874 to 1885. Passion for research completely absorbed him during this period. He abandoned the house, forgot about material needs, about his suit and even about his young wife. His comrades more than once took part in the fate of Ivan Petrovich, wanting to help him in some way. Once they collected some money for I.P. Pavlov, wanting to support him financially. I.P. Pavlov accepted comradely help, but with this money he bought a whole pack of dogs in order to set up an experiment of interest to him.

The first serious discovery that made him famous was the discovery of the so-called amplifying nerve of the heart. This discovery served as the initial impetus for the creation of the scientific theory of nervous trophism. The whole cycle of works on this topic was formalized in the form of a doctoral dissertation entitled "Centrifugal nerves of the heart", which he defended in 1883.

Already during this period, one fundamental feature of the scientific work of I.P. Pavlova - to study a living organism in its holistic, natural behavior. The work of I.P. Pavlova in the Botkin laboratory brought him great creative satisfaction, but the laboratory itself was not convenient enough. That's why I.P. Pavlov gladly accepted in 1890 the offer to take over the department of physiology at the newly organized Institute of Experimental Medicine. In 1901 he was elected a corresponding member, and in 1907 a full member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1904, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov received the Nobel Prize for his work on digestion.

Pavlov's teaching on conditioned reflexes was the logical conclusion of all those physiological experiments that he did on blood circulation and digestion.

I.P. Pavlov looked into the deepest and most mysterious processes of the human brain. He explained the mechanism of sleep, which turned out to be a kind of special nervous process of inhibition that spreads throughout the entire cerebral cortex.

In 1925 I.P. Pavlov headed the Institute of Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and opened two clinics at his laboratory: nervous and psychiatric, where he successfully applied the experimental results obtained by him in the laboratory for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases. A particularly important achievement of the last years of I.P. Pavlov was the study of the hereditary properties of certain types of nervous activity. To address this issue, I.P. Pavlov significantly expanded his biological station in Koltushi near Leningrad - a real city of science - for which the Soviet government allocated more than 12 million rubles.

The teachings of I.P. Pavlov became the foundation for the development of world science. In America, England, France and other countries, special Pavlovian laboratories were created. February 27, 1936 Ivan Petrovich Pavlov died. After a short illness, he died at the age of 87. The funeral according to the Orthodox rite, according to his will, was performed in the church in Koltushi, after which a farewell ceremony took place in the Tauride Palace. A guard of honor was installed at the coffin of scientists from universities, technical universities, scientific institutes, members of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich - Russian psychologist, physiologist, researcher of the processes of regulation of digestion, Nobel Prize winner. Founder of the science of higher nervous activity.

Biography

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born on September 26, 1849 in Ryazan. Father, Peter Dmitrievich Pavlov, was a parish priest. Mother, Varvara Ivanovna, was engaged in housekeeping.

Ivan studied at the Ryazan Theological School. In 1864, after graduating from college, Pavlov entered the theological seminary in Ryazan. Later, he recalled this period with warmth, noted the work of wonderful teachers. In his last year, Pavlov got acquainted with the book by I. M. Sechenov “Reflexes of the Brain”. This book determined the further fate of Pavlov.

In 1870 he entered the St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of Law. True, he studied here for only 17 days, and then transferred to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, the natural department. He studied with professors F.V. Ovsyannikov, I.F. Zion, and was especially interested in animal physiology. He paid much attention to nervous regulation, as befits a true follower of Sechenov.

After graduating from the university, Pavlov entered the Medical and Surgical Academy, immediately into the third year. In 1879, he graduated from the academy and began working at the Botkin clinic, where he headed the physiology laboratory.

From 1884 to 1886, Pavlov trained in France and Germany, and then returned to work for Botkin again.

In 1890, Pavlov was appointed professor of pharmacology at the Military Medical Academy, six years later he headed the department of physiology here, which he left only in 1926.

At the same time, Ivan Petrovich explores the physiology of digestion, blood circulation, and higher nervous activity. In 1890, he carried out his famous experiment with imaginary feeding and established the role of the nervous system in the processes of digestion.

So, it was found that the process of sap secretion is divided into two phases: neuro-reflex and humoral-clinical.

Then Pavlov began to study higher nervous activity, achieved significant success in the study of reflexes.

In 1903, Pavlov, who by that time was already 54 years old, made a presentation at the International Medical Congress, which was held in Madrid. The following year, Ivan Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize for his study of digestion.

In 1907, the scientist becomes a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1915, the Royal Society of London presented him with the Copley Medal.

Pavlov took the revolution generally negatively. During the civil war, he was in poverty, so he turned to the Soviet authorities with a request to let him out of the country. The authorities promised to improve the situation, but did very little in this direction. In the end, in 1925, the creation of the Institute of Physiology in Koltushi, headed by Pavlov. He worked here until his death.

Pavlov's main achievements

• He established that the work of the heart is regulated not only by the inhibitory and accelerating nerves, but also by the amplifying nerve. Also suggested the existence of debilitating nerves.
• For the first time, he performed an operation to connect the portal vein with the inferior vena cava. He explained the importance of the liver as an organ that cleanses the blood of harmful products.
• He made a number of discoveries concerning the reflection of the secretion of gastric juice.
• Pavlov formulated the principles of the physiology of higher nervous activity.

Important dates in Pavlov's biography

• September 26, 1849 - birth in Ryazan.
• 1864 - admission to the theological seminary in Ryazan.
• 1870 - admission to St. Petersburg University.
• 1875 - Pavlov is awarded a gold medal and graduates from the university. Admission to the Medical-Surgical Academy.
• 1879 - graduation from the academy. Work as head of the laboratory at the Botkin clinic.
• 1883 - defense of his doctoral dissertation on the topic "On the centrifugal nerves of the heart."
• 1884-1886 - internship in France and Germany.
• 1890 - Head of the Department of Pharmacology of the Medico-Surgical Academy.
• 1897 - publication of the work "Lectures on the work of the main digestive glands."
• 1901 - Corresponding Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
• 1904 Nobel Prize awarded.
• 1907 - full member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
• 1925 - the beginning of work as head of the Institute of Physiology.
• February 27, 1936 - Ivan Petrovich Pavlov died.

• The first resident of Russia to receive the Nobel Prize.
• Once he admitted that without glasses he could not conduct a single experiment on dogs. Just because I wouldn't see dogs.
• Pavlov considered Descartes to be the forerunner of his own research, for which he put a bust of him next to the laboratory in Koltushi.
• He was fond of collecting butterflies and playing gorodki.
• The scientist was left-handed, but stubbornly developed his right hand. As a result, he even learned to do operations with it.
• He had a negative attitude towards Soviet power and argued that it had no future, and the USSR was doomed to perish. Therefore, he did not get into the camp only due to the enormous prestige not only in Russia, but throughout the world.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born on September 26 (14), 1849 in the ancient Russian city of Ryazan. His father, Pyotr Dmitrievich Pavlov, a native of a peasant family, was at that time a young priest of one of the seedy parishes. Truthful and independent, he often did not get along with his superiors and did not live well. Peter Dmitrievich was a strong-willed, cheerful person, possessed good health, loved to work in the garden and garden. For many years, gardening and horticulture have been a significant support for the Pavlov family. High moral qualities, seminary education, which was considered significant for the inhabitants of the provincial towns of those times, earned him a reputation as a very enlightened person.

Ivan Petrovich's mother, Varvara Ivanovna, also came from a spiritual family. In her youth, she was healthy, cheerful and cheerful, but frequent childbirth (she gave birth to 10 children) and the experiences associated with the untimely death of some of them undermined her health. 1 Varvara Ivanovna received no education; however, her natural intelligence and diligence made her a skilled educator of her children.

Ivan Petrovich remembered his parents with a feeling of tender love and deep gratitude. The words that end his autobiography are noteworthy: "And under everything - the eternal thanks to my father and mother, who taught me to live a simple, very undemanding life and made it possible to get a higher education."

Ivan was the firstborn in the Pavlov family. Childhood years, even very early ones, left an indelible mark on his soul. Later, I.P. Pavlov recalled: “... I seem to remember my first visit to that house, where all my childhood and adolescence passed, inclusive. The strange thing is that I made this visit in the arms of a nanny, i.e ... was probably a one-year-old or so child .... Another fact speaks for the fact that I began to remember myself very early. When one of my maternal uncles was carried past this house to the cemetery, I was again carried out in my arms to say goodbye with him, and this memory remains very vivid with me too.

Ivan grew up healthy and fervent. He willingly played with his younger brothers and sisters, from an early age he helped his father in the garden and the garden, when building a house (he learned a little carpentry and turning), and his mother in household chores. His younger sister L.P. Andreeva recalls this period of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov’s life: “His first teacher was his father ... Ivan Petrovich always remembered his father with gratitude, who managed to instill in children the habits of work, order, accuracy and accuracy in "Business is time, fun is an hour," he liked to say .... As a child, Ivan Petrovich had to do other work. Our mother supported tenants. Often she did everything herself and was a great worker. Children idolized her and vied with each other. to help her with something: to chop wood, heat the stove, bring water - all this had to be done by Ivan Petrovich "

Ivan Petrovich learned to read and write for about eight years, but he entered school belatedly, only in 1860. The fact is that somehow, while laying out apples to dry on a high platform, eight-year-old Ivan fell on a stone floor, badly hurt himself and was ill for a long time. As a rule, the period of Pavlov's life between this incident and entering school falls out of the field of view of his domestic and foreign biographers. Meanwhile, this period is very interesting in many respects. The fall from a considerable height had serious consequences for the boy's health. He lost his appetite, began to sleep poorly, lost weight and turned pale. Parents feared even for the condition of his lungs. Ivan was treated with home remedies and without noticeable success. At this time, the godfather of Ivan, the abbot of the Trinity Monastery, located near Ryazan, came to visit the Pavlovs. He took the boy to him. Clean air, enhanced nutrition, regular gymnastics had a beneficial effect on the boy's physical condition. He quickly returned to health and strength. The boy's guardian turned out to be a kind, intelligent and highly educated person for those times. He read a lot, led a Spartan lifestyle, was demanding of himself and others.

These human qualities had a strong influence on Ivan, a boy, impressionable, with a good soul. The first book that Ivan received as a gift from his guardian was the fables of I. A. Krylov. He later learned it by heart and retained his love for the famous fabulist for his entire long life. According to Serafima Vasilievna, this book always lay on IP Pavlov's desk. Ivan returned to Ryazan in the autumn of 1860 as a healthy, strong, cheerful boy and entered the Ryazan Theological School immediately in the second grade. Having successfully graduated from college in 1864, he was admitted to the local theological seminary the same year. (Children of priests received certain benefits in theological educational institutions.)

And here Ivan Pavlov became one of the best students. L.P. Andreeva recalls that already during the years of teaching at the seminary, Pavlov gave private lessons, using the reputation of a good tutor. He was very fond of teaching and was happy when he could help others in acquiring knowledge. The years of Pavlov's teachings were marked by the rapid development of advanced social thought in Russia. Remarkable Russian thinkers of the middle of the XIX century. N. A. Dobrolyubov, N. G. Chernyshevsky, A. I. Herzen, V. G. Belinsky, D. I. Pisarev waged a selfless struggle against reaction in social life and science, advocated the awakening of the consciousness of the masses, for freedom, for progressive change in life. Much attention - they paid to the propaganda of the ideas of materialistic natural science, in particular biology. The influence of this brilliant galaxy of revolutionary democrats on the youth was enormous. And it is not surprising that their high ideas captivated Pavlov's open, ardent soul.

He enthusiastically read their articles in Russkoye Slovo, Sovremennik, and other progressive journals. He was especially fascinated by articles on natural science, which noted the importance of the natural sciences in social progress. "Under the influence of the literature of the sixties, especially Pisarev," Pavlov later wrote, "our intellectual interests turned towards natural science, and many of us, including myself, decided to study the natural sciences at the university." Pavlov's scientific interests were formed mainly under the influence of I.M. the origin and nature of the phenomena of mental life

More than half a century later, speaking about the motives that prompted him to embark on the path of an objective study of the activity of the brain, Pavlov wrote: "... the main impetus to my decision, although not realized then, was the long-standing, still in my youth, the tested influence of Ivan's talented brochure Mikhailovich Sechenov, the father of Russian physiology, under the title "Reflexes of the brain". Pavlov also got acquainted with great interest with the translation of the popular book of the English scientist George Lewis "Physiology of everyday life". In it, an attempt was made to explain phenomena specific to life, including psyche, with the help of physical laws.

After graduating from the sixth grade of the theological seminary in 1869, young Pavlov resolutely abandoned his spiritual career and began to prepare for the entrance exams to the university. In 1870, she moved to St. Petersburg, dreaming of entering the natural department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of the University. However, due to the fact that the seminarians were limited in the choice of university specialties (mainly due to the poor teaching of mathematics and physics in seminaries), he first entered the Faculty of Law. After 17 days, by special permission of the rector of the university, Pavlov was transferred to the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, f Pavlov's financial situation as a student was extremely difficult. This, in particular, is evidenced by some archival documents of those years. So, on September 15, 1870, Pavlov filed the following petition addressed to the rector: “Due to lack of material resources, I cannot pay the required fee for the right to listen to lectures, which is why I ask Your Excellency to release Me from it. The certificate of my poverty is attached among other documents to the application of August 14 for admission to the screening exam.

Judging by the documents, Pavlov studied very successfully and attracted the attention of professors, from the first year to the end of his studies at the university. This, no doubt, caused the fact that in the second year of study at the University he was assigned an ordinary scholarship (180 rubles a year), in the third year he already received the so-called imperial scholarship (300 rubles a year). During the years of study, Pavlov rented a small cheap room, ate mainly in third-rate taverns. A year later, his younger brother Dmitry came to St. Petersburg, who also entered the university, but at the Faculty of Chemistry. The brothers began to live together. Soon Dmitry, more adapted to everyday affairs, took over all the household chores. The Pavlovs made many acquaintances, mostly among compatriot students. Young people often gathered at someone's apartment, arranged discussions on issues that were of concern to the youth of that time. The brothers spent their summer student holidays in Ryazan with their parents, working, as in childhood, in the garden and playing their favorite game - towns. It was in the game that the characteristic features of the future scientist were clearly manifested - a hot temperament, an indomitable will to win, endurance, passion and endurance.

Studying at the University.

Pavlov was passionate about studying at the university: This was largely facilitated by the excellent teaching staff of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at that time. Thus, among the professors of the natural department of the faculty were outstanding chemists D. I. Mendeleev and A. M. Butlerov, famous botanists A. N. Beketov and I. P. Borodin, famous physiologists F. V. Ovsyannikov and I. F. Zion and et al.1 "It was a time when the faculty was in a brilliant state," Pavlov wrote in "Autobiography." We had a number of professors with great scientific authority and outstanding lecturer talent."

Gradually, Pavlov was more and more attracted to physiology, and in the third year he decided to devote himself to this rapidly developing science, the final choice was made largely under the influence of Professor I.F. Zion, who taught a course in physiology I.F. Zion, a student of the famous German physiologist K. Ludwig, was not only a talented scientist and skillful experimenter, but also a brilliant lecturer. Later, Pavlov recalled: “I chose animal physiology as the main specialty and chemistry as an additional specialty. Ilya Fadeevich Zion made a huge impression on all of us physiologists. We were directly amazed by his masterfully simple presentation of the most complex physiological issues and his truly artistic ability to set up experiments. a teacher is not forgotten all his life."

Young Pavlov did not immediately understand the complex and contradictory personality of Zion. This capable scientist had an extremely reactionary outlook. Despite the fact that Zion was recommended to the Department of Physiology of the Medical-Surgical Academy by I. M. Sechenov, he was very negative about the progressive views of the "father of Russian physiology", in particular his outstanding work Reflexes of the brain. Being the head of the Department of Physiology at the Medical-Surgical Academy, his personal qualities - vanity, selfishness, careerism, greed, arrogant attitude towards colleagues, as well as unseemly general behavior caused sharp opposition from the progressive professors of the academy. Students openly showed him their indignation.

As a result of all this, in 1875 Zion was forced to leave the academy, and then Russia. It is noteworthy that, being a very old man, I. P. Pavlov warmly and admiringly recalled his beloved teacher in the presence of the author of these lines and his other employees. With great regret and annoyance, he spoke about the degradation of Zion, who, having settled in Paris, completely departed from science and began to engage in reactionary journalism with some dubious financial transactions.

Start of research activity.

Pavlov's research activity began early. In 1873, as a fourth-year student, he, under the guidance of F.V. Ovsyannikov, investigated the nerves in the lungs of a frog. In the same year, together with a classmate V. N. Veliky, Pavlov completed his first scientific work. Under the guidance of I.F. Zion, they studied the influence of the laryngeal nerves on blood circulation. On October 29, 1874, the results of the research were reported at a meeting of the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists. Pavlov began to regularly attend meetings of this society, communicate with Sechenov, Ovsyannikov, Tarkhanov and other physiologists, and participate in the discussion of the reports made at them.

Soon students I. P. Pavlov and M. M. Afanasiev did interesting scientific work on the physiology of the nerves of the pancreas. This work, which was also supervised by Professor Zion, was awarded a gold medal by the university council. Obviously, the new research took up a lot of the students' time. Pavlov did not pass his final exams on time and was forced to remain in his last year for another year, losing his scholarship and having only a one-time allowance of 50 rubles. In 1875, Pavlov brilliantly graduated from the university, receiving the degree of candidate of natural sciences. He was then in his 26th year. With bright hopes, the young scientist set out on the road of independent life. ... At first, everything went well for IP Pavlov.

I. F. Zion, who had taken the post of head of the department of physiology at the Medical-Surgical Academy, left by Sechenov, invited the young scientist as his assistant. At the same time, Pavlov entered the third year of the academy "not with the aim of becoming a doctor, but so that later, having a doctorate in medicine, he would be entitled to occupy the department of physiology. However, justice requires adding that this plan was then a dream, because about his own professorship thought of something extraordinary, incredible. Soon Zion was forced to leave the academy. Pavlov, who highly valued his teacher as a great physiologist, and had a feeling of gratitude and gratitude for him, was unable at that time to correctly assess the reason for Tsion's departure from the academy.

Pavlov considered it necessary to refuse the post of assistant at the department of physiology, offered to him by the new head of the department, Professor I.F. Tarkhanov, and thus lost not only a great place for scientific work, but also earnings. According to some of Pavlov's students of the older generation (V.V. Savich, B.P. Babkin), Pavlov's dislike for Tarkhanov, due to some unseemly act of the latter, played a certain role in this decision. Be that as it may, Pavlov's integrity and honesty found their vivid expression in this fact. Ivan Petrovich realized his misconception about I.F. Tsion much later.

After some time, Pavlov became an assistant to Professor K. N. Ustimovich at the Department of Physiology of the Veterinary Department of the Medico-Surgical Academy. At the same time, he continued his studies at the medical department of the academy.

K. N. Ustimovich was a student of K. Ludwig and at one time received a solid physiological education. At the academy, he organized a good laboratory that dealt with the physiology of blood circulation and the excretory function of the kidneys. During his work in the laboratory (1876-1878) Pavlov independently performed a number of valuable works on the physiology of blood circulation. In these studies, for the first time, the beginnings of his ingenious scientific method of studying the functions of the body in their natural dynamics in an unanesthetized whole organism appeared. As a result of numerous experiments, Pavlov achieved the measurement of blood pressure in dogs without putting them to sleep with anesthesia and without tying them to an experimental table. He developed and implemented his original method of chronic ureteral fistula - implanting the end of the latter into the outer covering of the abdomen. During his work in the laboratory, Pavlov managed to save a small amount of money. In the summer of 1877, on the recommendation of Ustimovich, he visited Breslavl, where he got acquainted with the works of the famous physiologist Professor R. Heidenhain. A trip abroad expanded Pavlov's scientific horizons and marked the beginning of the young scientist's friendship with Heidenhain.

Study of the physiology of blood circulation.

Pavlov's research on the physiology of blood circulation, carried out in the laboratory of Ustimovich, attracted the attention of physiologists and doctors. The young scientist became famous in scientific circles. In December 1878, the famous Russian clinician Professor S.P. Botkin, on the recommendation of Dr. I.I. Stolnikov, invited Pavlov to work in his clinic. Formally, Pavlov was offered to take the position of a laboratory assistant in the physiological laboratory at the clinic, but in reality he was supposed to become its head. Pavlov willingly accepted this proposal, not only because it came from a famous scientist. Shortly before this, the veterinary department of the Medico-Surgical Academy was closed, and Pavlov lost his job and the opportunity to conduct experiments.

Scientific work took Pavlov a lot of time and energy. It is noteworthy that due to intensive scientific work, Pavlov also passed the final exams at the academy with a year's delay - in December 1879, he received a diploma as a doctor.

Pavlov believed that animal experimentation is necessary in resolving many complex and unclear issues of clinical medicine. In particular, he sought to elucidate the properties and mechanism of therapeutic action of new or already used medicinal preparations of plant or other origin. Many of those working at his clinic and at the Institute for the Improvement of Physicians, on his instructions, but mainly under the direction of Pavlov, investigated just such a series of questions under experimental conditions on animals. Botkin, as a scientist and clinician, was an outstanding representative of a progressive and fairly widespread scientific trend in those days, known as "nervism" and recognizing the decisive role of the nervous system in regulating the functions of a healthy and diseased organism.

Pavlov worked in this physiological laboratory of his until 1890 (since 1886 he was already officially considered its head). The laboratory was located in a small, dilapidated wooden house, completely unsuitable for scientific work, built either for a janitor or a bathhouse. The necessary equipment was lacking, there was not enough money to buy experimental animals and for other research needs. And yet Pavlov developed a vigorous activity in the laboratory. He planned and carried out experiments on animals on his own, which helped to reveal the original talent of the young scientist, was a prerequisite for the development of his creative initiative. Over the years of work in the laboratory, Pavlov's colossal ability to work, indomitable will and inexhaustible energy were fully manifested.

He achieved outstanding results in the study of the physiology of blood circulation and digestion, in the development of some topical issues of pharmacology, in the improvement of his outstanding experimental skills, and in acquiring the skills of an organizer and leader of a team of scientists. Despite financial difficulties, Pavlov considered this period of his life to be unusually meaningful and fruitful, and he always remembered it with special warmth and love. In "Autobiography" he wrote about this period: "The first thing is complete independence and then the opportunity to completely surrender to laboratory work." The young scientist felt the moral and material support of S.P. Botkin throughout his work in the laboratory. And Botkin's ideas about the role of the nervous system in the normal and pathological activities of the body, as well as his belief in the need for the utmost convergence of clinical medicine with experimental physiology, greatly contributed to the formation of Pavlov's scientific views. “S. P. Botkin,” Pavlov wrote many years later, “was the best personification of the legitimate and fruitful union of medicine and physiology, those two kinds of sciences of human activity, which, before our eyes, are erecting the building of the science of the human body and promise in the future to provide man his best happiness is health and life."

Among the scientific works performed by Pavlov in this laboratory, the study on the centrifugal nerves of the heart should be considered the most outstanding. The essence of this work will be discussed further. Here we give one statement by Pavlov about this work, which also very clearly reflects his attitude towards S.P. Botkin: “The idea of ​​research and its implementation belong only to me,” Pavlov wrote. experimental data of nervism, which, in my opinion, is an important merit of Sergei Petrovich to physiology.

This original study became the subject of Pavlov's doctoral dissertation. In 1883 he brilliantly defended it and was awarded a gold medal. Soon the young scientist gave two test lectures at the conference of professors of the academy and he was awarded the title of doctor. A year later, at the suggestion of S.P. Botkin, Pavlov was sent on a two-year foreign scientific mission. “Dr. Pavlov,” Botkin emphasized in his note, “after leaving at the academy, devoted himself specifically to the study of physiology, which he mainly studied at the university, taking a course in the natural sciences. Standing close to his work, I can testify with particular satisfaction that all of them are distinguished by originality both in thought and in methods; the results of them, in all fairness, can stand along with the best discoveries of recent times in the field of physiology, which is why, in my opinion, in the person of Dr. should help him on the scientific path he has chosen" ".

In early June 1884, collegiate assessor IP Pavlov, together with Serafima Vasilievna, went to Germany to work in the laboratories of R. Heidenhain (in Breslau) and K. Ludwig (in Leipzig). For two years Pavlov worked in the laboratories of these two outstanding physiologists. During this seemingly short period, he significantly expanded and deepened his knowledge not only on the physiology of blood circulation and digestion that interested him, but also in other areas of physiological science. The trip abroad enriched Pavlov with new ideas, honed and improved his outstanding skill as an experimenter. He established personal contacts with prominent figures of foreign science, discussed with them all sorts of topical physiological problems. Until a very old age, Pavlov recalled with great warmth about R. Heidenhain and K. Ludwig, about his work in their laboratories. "A trip abroad," he wrote in his "Autobiography," was dear to me mainly because it introduced me to the type of scientific workers, what Heidenhain and Ludwig are, all their lives, all the joys and sorrows of it, put in science and in nothing else. ".

Returning to his homeland with a solid scientific background, Pavlov continued his research with renewed vigor and enthusiasm in a wretched laboratory at the Botkin clinic. But it so happened that Pavlov could lose the opportunity to work in this laboratory. Here is what Professor N. Ya. Chistovich, who once worked in the laboratory led by Pavlov at the Botkin clinic, wrote about this episode: “Returning from a business trip abroad, Ivan Petrovich had a preferential year of leaving at the academy. S. P. Botkin did not have a vacancy at the department, but Professor V. A. Monassein had one, and we had to go to Monassein and ask him about this place. this step, but he stubbornly refused, finding it embarrassing. Finally, we persuaded him, and he went, but before reaching Monassein's office, he turned home. Then we took more energetic measures, persuaded him to go again and sent a minister Timothy to look after him so that he does not turn off the road again. Prof. Monassein kindly agreed to enroll Pavlov in a vacant position at his clinic and thereby provide him with the opportunity to continue working in the laboratory at the Botkin clinic.

There was a lot of work. Pavlov not only developed new methods and models of physiological experiments, which were set up in the laboratory both by himself and by young doctors led by him, operated on experimental animals and nursed them, but he himself invented and manufactured new equipment. V. V. Kudrevetsky, who worked at that time with Pavlov, recalls that Ivan Petrovich made a thermostat out of tin cans, attached it to an iron tripod and heated it with a small kerosene lamp. The laboratory staff were infected by the manager's enthusiasm, his devotion to science, readiness for self-sacrifice) in the name of his beloved work. And it is not surprising that as a result, even in such unsuitable conditions for research, amazing scientific results were obtained.

Upon his return from abroad, Pavlov began to lecture on physiology at the Military Medical Academy (as the Military Surgery Academy was renamed in 1881), as well as to the doctors of the clinical military hospital. This period includes the development of a new original technique for the manufacture of the so-called cardiopulmonary drug (isolation of the heart and lungs from the general circulation for the experimental study of many special scientific and practical issues of circulatory physiology, as well as pharmacology). Pavlov laid a solid foundation for his future research on the physiology of digestion: he discovered the nerves that regulate the secretory activity of the pancreas, and carried out his truly classic experiment with imaginary feeding.

Pavlov regularly reported on the results of his research on the pages of domestic and foreign scientific journals, at a meeting of the physiological section of the Society of Naturalists of St. Petersburg and at congresses of this society. Soon his name became widely known in Russia and abroad.

The joy brought by creative successes and their high appreciation was constantly poisoned by the difficult material conditions of existence. Ivan Petrovich's helplessness in everyday affairs and material deprivation became especially acute after his marriage in 1881. Little is known about the details of this period of Pavlov's life. In "Autobiography" about the hardships of those years, it is said briefly: "Up to the professorship in 1890, already married and having a son, financially it was constantly very difficult" ".

At the end of the 70s in St. Petersburg, Pavlov met Serafima Vasilievna Karchevskaya, a student of Pedagogical Courses. Ivan Petrovich and Serafima Vasilyevna were united by a common spiritual interest, closeness of views on many issues of life that were relevant at that time, loyalty to the ideals of serving the people, the struggle for social progress, which were saturated with advanced Russian fiction and journalistic literature of those times. They fell in love with each other.

In her youth, Serafima Vasilievna, judging by the photographs of that period, was very beautiful. Traces of her former beauty remained on her face even in extreme old age. Ivan Petrovich also had a very pleasant appearance. This is evidenced not only by photographs, but also by the memoirs of Serafima Vasilievna. “Ivan Petrovich was of good height, well-built, dexterous, agile, very strong, loved to talk and spoke passionately, figuratively and cheerfully. The conversation revealed that hidden spiritual power that supported him in his work all his life and to the charm of which all his employees involuntarily obeyed and friends. He had blond curls, a long blond beard, a ruddy face, clear blue eyes, red lips with a completely childish smile and wonderful teeth. I especially liked the intelligent eyes and curls that framed a large open forehead. " Love at first completely swallowed Ivan Petrovich. According to his brother, Dmitry Petrovich, for some time the young scientist was more busy writing letters to his girlfriend than doing laboratory work.

After some time, the young people, intoxicated with happiness, decided to get married, despite the fact that Pavlov's parents were against it, as they intended to marry their first child to the daughter of a wealthy Petersburg official, to a girl with a very rich dowry. For the wedding, they went to Rostov-on-Don to the sister of Serafima Vasilievna with the intention of having a wedding in her house. All expenses for the wedding were covered by the bride's relatives. “It turned out,” recalled Serafima Vasilievna, “that Ivan Petrovich not only did not bring money for the wedding, but also did not take care of the money for the return trip to Petersburg.” Upon returning to St. Petersburg, the newlyweds were forced to live for some time with Dmitry Petrovich, who worked as an assistant to the famous Russian chemist D. I. Mendeleev and had a state-owned apartment. Serafima Vasilievna recalled: “When we returned to St. Petersburg after living in the country, we had absolutely no money. And if not for Dmitry Petrovich’s apartment, there would literally be nowhere to lay our heads.” From the memoirs it is clear that the newlyweds at that period of life did not have enough money to "buy furniture, kitchen, dining and tea utensils, and linen for Ivan Petrovich, since he did not even have a summer shirt."

One episode from this period of the life of a young couple is curious, about which Ivan Petrovich bitterly told his students of the older generation and which is mentioned in Pavlov's biographical sketch written by V. V. Savich. This episode is as comical as it is sad. When Ivan Petrovich and his wife lived in the apartment of Dmitry Petrovich's brother, the brothers often dived in the presence of guests. Ivan Petrovich ridiculed the unattractiveness of a bachelor's life, and Dmitry Petrovich - the hardships of family ties. Once, during such a playful skirmish, Dmitry Petrovich shouted to the dog: "Bring the shoe with which Ivan Petrovich's wife beats." The dog obediently ran into the next room and soon solemnly returned back with a shoe in his teeth, causing an outburst of laughter and thunderous applause from the guests present. The defeat of Ivan Petrovich in a comic verbal battle was obvious, and resentment against his brother persisted for many years.

In the year of defending his doctoral dissertation, Ivan Petrovich had his first child, who was named Mirchik. In the summer, the wife and child had to be sent to the dacha, but Pavlov found it beyond his means to rent a dacha near St. Petersburg. I had to go south, to a remote village, to my wife's sister. There wasn’t even enough money for a railway ticket, so I had to turn to Serafima Vasilievna’s father.

In the village, Mirchik fell ill and died, leaving his parents in bitter sorrow. During this difficult period of his life, Pavlov was forced to resort to side work, and at one time he taught at a school for paramedics. And, nevertheless, Pavlov was completely devoted to his beloved work. Often, Ivan Petrovich spent his meager earnings on the purchase of experimental animals and other needs of research work in his laboratory. Professor N. Ya. Chistovich, who at that time worked under the guidance of Pavlov, later wrote: “Remembering this time, I think each of us feels a feeling of the most lively gratitude to our teacher not only for his talented leadership, but, most importantly, for that exceptional example, which we saw in him personally, an example of a man who was completely devoted to science and lived only by science, despite the most difficult material conditions, literally the need that he had to endure with his heroic "better half", Serafima Vasilievna, who knew how to support him in the most difficult minutes of life. May Ivan Petrovich forgive me if I tell you some episodes from this bygone time. At one time Ivan Petrovich had to endure complete lack of money, he was forced to be separated from his family and lived alone in the apartment of his friend N. P. Simanovsky. We, pupils of Ivan Petrovich, learned about his difficult financial situation and decided to help him: they invited him to give us a series of lectures about inn ervation of the heart, and, having pooled the money, handed it over to him as if for expenses at the rate. And we didn’t succeed: he bought animals for the entire amount for this course, but left nothing for himself.”

It is known that between Ivan Petrovich and his wife, on the basis of material difficulties and deprivations, unpleasant conversations sometimes arose. Ivan Petrovich told Babkin and his other students of the older generation, for example, that during the period of intensive preparation of his doctoral dissertation, the family became especially difficult financially (Pavlov received about 50 rubles a month). Serafima Vasilievna repeatedly begged him to expedite the defense of his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences, rightly reproached him for always helping his students in the laboratory and completely abandoned his own scientific affairs. But Pavlov was inexorable; he sought to obtain more new, significant and reliable scientific facts for his doctoral dissertation and did not think about speeding up its defense.

However, over time, as the financial situation of the Pavlov family gradually improved in connection with the increase in official rank and the award of prizes to them. Adam Chojnacki by the University of Warsaw (1888), such incidents became rare and disappeared altogether. And there is every reason to assert that the married life of Ivan Petrovich turned out to be extremely happy. Serafima Vasilievna, an intelligent woman with a kind heart, gentle character and high ideals, was for Ivan Petrovich not only a faithful friend in his long life, but a loving and devoted wife. She took upon herself the whole burden of family worries and for many years meekly endured all the troubles and failures that accompanied Ivan Petrovich at that time. With her faithful love, she undoubtedly contributed a lot to Pavlov's amazing success in science. “I was looking for only a good person in my life comrades,” wrote I. P. Pavlov, “and I found him in my wife Sarah Vasilievna, nee Karchevskaya, who patiently endured the hardships of our pre-professorial life, always guarded my scientific aspirations and turned out to be just as devoted for life our family, as I am a lab."

As a result of almost twelve years of work as the head of the physiological laboratory at the Botkin Clinic, work in difficult conditions, but inspired, intense, purposeful and exceptionally fruitful, selfless, associated with acute material need and deprivation in his personal life, Pavlov became a prominent figure in the field of physiology only at home, but also abroad. A radical improvement in the living and working conditions of a talented scientist has become an urgent need not only to satisfy his growing personal interests, but also for the development of domestic and world science.

However, as already noted, in the conditions of tsarist Russia, it was not easy for a democratically minded, simple, honest, unsophisticated, impractical and even shy person like Pavlov to achieve such changes. At the same time, Pavlov’s life was greatly complicated by some prominent physiologists, who were unfriendly to him, mainly because, while still a young physiologist, he sometimes dared to publicly enter into a sharp scientific discussion with them on certain issues and often emerged victorious. Yes, prof. I. R. Tarkhanov in 1885 gave a sharply negative review of his very valuable work on blood circulation, presented to the Russian Academy of Sciences for the prize. Metropolitan Macarius, and the prize was not awarded to Pavlov. As we will see below, a few years later, for the same reasons, a similar unseemly role in Pavlov's life was also played by his university teacher prof. F. V. Ovsyannikov.

Pavlov had no confidence in the future. He could only hope for occasional favorable circumstances. After all, he once found himself without a job due to the lack of vacancies at the Botkin department! And this despite the fact that Pavlov was then already a doctor of medicine, who visited foreign laboratories, a scientist recognized at home and abroad. What would have happened to Pavlov if Professor V.L. Monassein had not given him then a place at his department?

True, Pavlov was promoted on the scale of military ranks (for his length of service in May 1887 he was promoted to court advisers), his lectures given to students and doctors of the academy were exceptionally successful, Warsaw University awarded the scientist the Prize. Adam Heinetsky, his scientific authority grew every day. And yet, for a number of years, Pavlov searched for a new job for a long time and without success. Back in October 1887, he addressed the Minister of Education with a letter in which he expressed his desire to take the chair of some experimental medical science - physiology, pharmacology or general pathology - at one of the universities of Russia. In particular, he wrote: “For my competence in experimental work, I hope professors Sechenov, Botkin and Pashutin will not refuse to say their word; thus, the most suitable department for me is the department of physiology. But if for some reason it turned out to be for me closed, I think I could, without fear of being reproached for frivolity, take up pharmacology or general pathology, as well as purely experimental sciences ... .

Meanwhile, time and energy are not spent as productively as they should be, because working alone and in a foreign laboratory is far from the same as working with students in your own laboratory. And therefore, I would consider myself happy if the Siberian University sheltered me within its walls. I hope that, for my part, I would not remain in his debt. "A month later, he sent a letter of similar content to the organizer of the Siberian University in Tomsk, the former professor of the Military Medical Academy V. M. Florinsky. But, despite the support eminent and authoritative scientist V. V. Pashutin, these appeals remained unanswered for almost three years.In April 1889, Pavlov participated in the competition for the post of head of the Department of Physiology of St. Petersburg University, vacant after the departure of I. M. Sechenov. But the competition commission voted down his candidacy, electing Sechenov's student N. E. Vvedensky to this place. Pavlov was very upset by this failure. Soon he was forced to drink the bitter cup of resentment a second time. Very late, he was elected to the post of professor of physiology at Tomsk University. However, the tsarist minister of education, Delyanov did not approve his candidacy, giving this place to the little-known scientist Great, for whom some other minister and F.V. Ovsyannikov, an influential professor at the court of St. Petersburg University, a former teacher of Pavlov.

Such an outrageous event provoked a protest from the advanced scientific and medical community. The Vrach newspaper, for example, published an article stating: “The Great Doctor of Zoology has been appointed to the Department of Physiology in Tomsk ... We cannot but express sincere regret that the appointment of a private teacher of physiology at the Academy For some reason, Pavlov did not take place [...] Pavlov, who has long been rightfully considered one of the best physiologists in Russia, presented in this case especially favorable conditions; he is not only a doctor of medicine, but also a candidate of natural sciences, and, moreover, for many years he constantly worked and helped others work in the clinic of S. II. Botkin. We know that Pavlov's non-appointment surprised, by the way, such a knowledgeable judge in this case as I. M. Sechenov. "

Award of the Nobel Prize.

However, fortune soon smiled on Ivan Petrovich. On April 23, 1890, he was elected to the post of professor of pharmacology at Tomsk, and after that at Warsaw universities. But Ivan Petrovich did not move to either Tomsk or Warsaw, since on April 24, 1890 he was elected professor of pharmacology at the Military Medical Academy itself (the former Military Surgical Academy). The scientist occupied this position for five years, before moving to the department of physiology of the same academy, which became vacant after the departure of Professor I.R. Tarkhanov. Ivan Petrovich unchangingly headed this department for three decades, successfully combining brilliant pedagogical activity with interesting, albeit limited in scale, research work, first on the physiology of the digestive system, and later on the physiology of conditioned reflexes.

An important event in the life and scientific activity of Pavlov was the beginning of work at the newly established Institute of Experimental Medicine. In 1891, the patron of this institute, Prince of Oldenburg, invited Pavlov to organize and lead the Department of Physiology. The scientist headed this department until the end of his life. Here, Pavlov's classical works on the physiology of the main digestive glands were mainly performed, which brought him world fame and were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904 (this was the first prize awarded for research in the field of medicine), as well as a significant part of his work on conditioned reflexes, immortalized the name of Pavlov and glorified domestic science.

In 1901 I. N. Pavlov was elected a corresponding member, and in 1907 a full member of the Academy of Sciences. It is impossible not to note one feature of Pavlov's pre-revolutionary life path: almost all of his achievements in science received official recognition by state institutions much later than their recognition by the advanced scientific community of the country and abroad. At a time when the tsarist minister did not approve the election of Pavlov as a professor of physiology at Tomsk University, I. M. Sechenov, K. Ludwig, R. Heidenhain and others already considered him an outstanding physiologist, Pavlov became a professor only at the age of 46, and an academician only three years after he was awarded the Nobel Prize.

Within a short period of time, he was elected a member of the academies of several countries and an honorary doctorate of many universities.

The election of Pavlov as a professor at the Military Medical Academy, work at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, election to the Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Prize significantly improved the financial situation of his family. Shortly after these events, the Pavlovs moved into a large apartment. The windows overlooked a sunny square, in the high large rooms there was a lot of air and light.

But the conditions of Ivan Petrovich's scientific work and the attitude of influential tsarist officials towards it remained unfavorable in many respects. Pavlov was especially keenly aware of the need for permanent employees. In the department of physiology of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, which served as the main base of his research work, he had only two full-time researchers, in the wretched laboratory of the Academy of Sciences - one, and even that Pavlov paid from personal funds, at the Department of Physiology of the Military Medical Academy their number was also severely limited. The Minister of War and the leaders of the academy, especially Professor V.V. Pashutin, were then extremely hostile to Pavlov. They were irritated by his democratism, constant resistance to the arbitrariness of tsarist officials in relation to progressive professors, students and students of the academy. Pavlov constantly carried the charter of the academy in his pocket in order to use it in his struggle if necessary.

All sorts of intrigues against Pavlov, the great physiologist of the Russian land, as the whole world considered him, according to K. A. Timiryazev, did not stop until the establishment of Soviet power. Although the world authority of Pavlov forced the official authorities to treat him with hypocritical courtesy, the defense of dissertations by Ivan Petrovich's employees often failed, his students were hardly approved in ranks and positions. It was not easy for Pavlov to leave his most talented students at the department after graduating from the academy and to secure scientific trips for them to foreign laboratories. Pavlov himself was also not approved for a long time in the rank of an ordinary professor, he, one of all the heads of the theoretical departments of the academy, was not given a state-owned apartment / The enemies of the scientist constantly set noble hypocrites on him, yelling about the sinfulness of scientific experiments on animals, they also voted his candidacy for re-election to the post of chairman of the Society of Russian Doctors, despite the great work done by Pavlov in this society, etc.

With his authority, outstanding scientific achievements, fiery patriotism, and democratic views, IP Pavlov attracted young science enthusiasts like a magnet. In his laboratories, research was carried out, many students of the Military Medical Academy, specialists seconded to the Institute of Experimental Medicine, as well as doctors from different parts of the country and from abroad got acquainted with the methods of operations developed by the scientist, experimental methods, etc. Among them were American scientists F. Benedict and I. Kellogg, English - W. Thompson and E. Cathcart, German - V. Gross, O. Kongheim and G. Nicolai, Japanese R. Satake, X. Ishikawa, Belgian Van de Pyut , Swiss neurologist M. Minkovsky, Bulgarian doctor L. Pochinkov and others.

Many domestic and foreign specialists worked under the guidance of a talented physiologist without monetary compensation. True, such employees changed quite often, and this greatly prevented Pavlov from systematically conducting scientific research on a large scale. Nevertheless, enthusiastic volunteers helped a lot in implementing the ideas of the scientist.

As noted above, the position of scientific institutions led by Pavlov was also difficult. Not surprisingly, the scientist has repeatedly appealed to the public and educational societies with a call for private support for his laboratories. Such assistance was sometimes provided. For example, thanks to a subsidy from the Moscow philanthropist K. Ledentsov, it was possible to begin construction of the famous "tower of silence" of a special laboratory for studying conditioned reflex activity in dogs. Only after the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the attitude towards Pavlov and his activities changed radically.

Pavlov and Soviet power.

Already in the first years of Soviet power, when our country was going through famine and devastation, V. I. Lenin issued a special decree testifying to the exceptionally warm, caring attitude of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet government to I. P. Pavlov and his work. The decision noted "The exceptional scientific achievements of Academician I.P. Pavlov, which are of great importance for the working people of the whole world"; a special commission headed by L. M. Gorky was instructed "in the shortest possible time to create the most favorable conditions for ensuring the scientific work of Academician Pavlov and his staff"; the relevant state organizations were asked to "print the scientific work prepared by Academician Pavlov in a luxurious edition", "to provide Pavlov and his wife with a special ration". In a short time, the best conditions were created for the scientific research of the great scientist. The construction of the "tower of silence" was completed at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. By the 75th anniversary of I.P. Pavlov, the physiological laboratory of the Academy of Sciences was reorganized into the Physiological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now named after Pavlov), and by his 80th world scientific institution of this kind, nicknamed "the capital of conditioned reflexes."

Pavlov's long-standing dream of an organic connection between theory and practice was also realized: clinics for nervous and mental diseases were formed at his institutes. All scientific institutions headed by him were equipped with the latest equipment. The number of permanent scientific and scientific and technical employees has increased tenfold. In addition to the usual, large budget funds, the scientist was given significant amounts every month to spend at his own discretion. The regular publication of scientific works of Pavlov's laboratory began.

Pavlov could not even dream of such care under the tsarist regime. The attention of the Soviet government was dear to the heart of the great scientist, he repeatedly emphasized this with a feeling of great gratitude even in the years when he himself was still reserved about the new social order in our country. Very revealing is his letter of 1923 to one of his students, B.P. Babkin. Pavlov wrote, in particular, that his work had acquired a large scale, that he had a lot of employees and that he could not accept everyone in his laboratory. The ideal opportunities created by the Soviet government for expanding Pavlov's research amazed many foreign scientists and public figures who visited the Soviet Union and visited the scientific institutions of the great physiologist.

Thus, John Barcroft, a famous English scientist, wrote in the journal Nature: “Perhaps the most striking fact of the last years of Pavlov’s life is the enormous prestige that he enjoyed in his homeland. All such primitive statements that Pavlov owed his exalted position to the fact that the materialistic direction of his work on conditioned reflexes served as a support for atheism , seem unfair both to Pavlov himself and to Soviet power.As culture discards the supernatural, it begins to more and more regard man as the highest subject of human knowledge, and nature as his mental activity and its fruits as subjects of the highest phase of the science of man. Such studies are treated with the greatest attention in the Soviet Union.The amazing collections of Scythian and Iranian art in the Hermitage in Leningrad would never have been so cherished if they were not monuments to the development of human thought.Thanks to the accidents of fate, it turned out that the life of the person who made more than anyone else for the experimental analysis of mental activity, coincided in time and place with a culture that elevated the human mind "". The American scientist W. Capiop recalled: “The last time I saw Pavlov in Leningrad and Moscow at the meetings of the congress was in 1935. He was then 86 years old, and he still retained a lot of his former mobility and vitality. The day spent with him in near Leningrad, in the huge new institute buildings built by the Soviet government to continue Pavlov's experimental work.During our conversation, Pavlov sighed and expressed regret that such grandiose opportunities had not been given to him 20 years ago.If you could turn back time, then he, Pavlov, would be 66 years old, and this is the age when, as a rule, scientists are already moving away from active work!

Herbert Wells, who visited Pavlov's laboratory in Koltushi in 1934, wrote: "The research going on at Pavlov's new Physiological Institute near Leningrad is some of the most significant biological research in the world. This institute is already in operation and continues to expand rapidly under the leadership of its founder. Pavlov's reputation contributes to the prestige of the Soviet Union, and he receives everything that he necessary; the government must be commended for that." Pavlov lived and worked surrounded by popular love. Celebrating the 85th anniversary of the great scientist, the Soviet government allocated large funds for the further development of his research work. The greeting of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR said: "To Academician I.P. Pavlov. On your 85th birthday, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR sends you warm greetings and congratulations. The Council of People's Commissars especially notes your inexhaustible energy in scientific work, the success of which deservedly brought your name among the classics of natural science.

The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR wishes you health, cheerfulness and fruitful work for many years to come for the benefit of our great motherland."

The scientist was touched and excited by such an attentive and warm attitude of the Soviet authorities towards his scientific activity. Pavlov, who under the tsarist regime was constantly in need of funds for scientific work, was now worried: would he be able to justify the care and trust of the government and the colossal funds allocated for research? He spoke about this not only to his entourage, but also publicly. So, speaking at a reception hosted by the Soviet government in the Kremlin for delegates to the XV International Congress of Physiologists (M.-L., 1935), Pavlov said: "We, the leaders of scientific institutions, are directly in anxiety and concern about whether we will be able to justify all the funds that the government provides us."

Death of a great scientist.

"I want to live long, - Pavlov said, - because my laboratories are flourishing like never before. The Soviet government gave millions for my scientific work, for the construction of laboratories. I want to believe that measures to encourage workers in physiology, and I still remain a physiologist, will achieve their goal, and my science will especially flourish on my native soil.

The brilliant naturalist was in his 87th year when his life ended. Pavlov's death came as a complete surprise to everyone. Despite his advanced age, he was physically very strong, burned with ebullient energy, worked tirelessly, enthusiastically made plans for further work II, of course, he least of all thought about death ... In a letter to I. M. Maisky (Ambassador of the USSR in England) in October 1935, a few months after falling ill with the flu with complications, Pavlov wrote: “Damned flu! It has knocked down my confidence to live to a hundred years. and the size of my classes" "

Before telling about the sad circumstances of the death of I.P. Pavlov, we note that he generally had very good health and rarely fell ill. True, Ivan Petrovich was somewhat prone to colds and had pneumonia several times in his life. Perhaps the fact that Pavlov walked very quickly and at the same time sweated profusely played a certain role in this. According to Serafima Vasilievna, the scientist, seeing this as the cause of frequent colds, starting in 1925, after another illness with pneumonia, he stopped wearing a winter coat and went all winter in an autumn one. And, indeed, after that, the colds stopped for a long time. In 1935 he caught a cold again and fell ill with pneumonia. As usual, Pavlov did not immediately go to the doctors this time, the disease took on a very dangerous character; it took excessive efforts to save the life of the scientist. After the illness, he recovered so much that he went to England, led the organization and holding the XV International Congress of Physiologists, visited his native Ryazan and, after a long separation, saw places dear to the heart, relatives and peers.

However, Ivan Petrovich's health was no longer the same as before: he looked unhealthy, quickly got tired and did not feel well. A heavy blow for Pavlov was the illness and quick death of his youngest son Vsevolod (autumn 1935). As Serafima Vasilievna writes, after this misfortune, Ivan Petrovich's legs began to swell. In response to her concern about this, Pavlov only chuckled and said: “It is you who needs to take care of your bad heart, and my heart works well. Don’t think, I want to live longer, more and take care of my health. and they find that my organism is still working like a young man's.'' Meanwhile, the general weakness of his organism was intensifying.

On February 22, 1936, during another trip to the scientific town of Koltushi, the beloved "capital of conditioned reflexes", Ivan Petrovich again caught a cold and fell ill with pneumonia. An experienced Leningrad doctor M. M. Bok on the very first day of illness established the presence of inflammation of the large and medium bronchial tracts. Soon, large medical forces of the country were mobilized for the treatment of Pavlov: the Leningrad professor M.K. Chernorutsky and the famous Moscow therapist D.D. Pletnev. Until the night of February 25-26, the course of Pavlov's illness did not cause much alarm, there were even some signs of an improvement in his state of health. However, he spent that night restlessly, the patient's pulse quickened, bilateral pneumonia began to develop, covering the entire lower lobes of both lungs, hiccups and extrasystoles appeared. The pulse rate steadily increased. Ivan Petrovich was in a semiconscious state. The well-known neuropathologist M. P. Nikitin, who was called for a consultation, did not find any changes in the activity of the nervous system. By the evening of February 26, doctors noted the further spread of pneumonia, a drop in temperature, and a weakening of cardiac activity. At about 10 p.m. Pavlov fell into a state of collapse, from which the doctors brought him out with great difficulty. Re-collapse at 2 hours 45 minutes. February 27 turned out to be fatal.

With modern effective medicines - antibiotics and sulfa drugs, it would probably be possible to cure the scientist. The then means of combating pneumonia, applied moreover not immediately after the onset of the disease, turned out to be powerless to save IP Pavlov's life so dear to all mankind. February 27, she went out forever.

"Ivan Petrovich himself- recalled Serafima Vasilievna, - didn't expect such a quick end. All these days he joked with his granddaughters and talked cheerfully with those around him. Pavlov dreamed, and sometimes told his collaborators, that he would live at least a hundred years, and only in the last years of his life would he leave laboratories to write memoirs about what he had seen on his long life path.

Shortly before his death, Ivan Petrovich began to worry about the fact that sometimes he forgets the right words and pronounces others, makes some movements involuntarily. The insightful mind of a brilliant researcher flashed for the last time: "Excuse me, but this is a bark, this is a bark, this is a swelling of the bark!" he said excitedly. The autopsy confirmed the correctness of this, alas, the last guess of the scientist about the brain - the presence of edema of the cortex of his own powerful brain. By the way, it also turned out that the vessels of Pavlov's brain were almost not affected by sclerosis.

The death of IP Pavlov was a great grief not only for the Soviet people, but for all progressive mankind. The great man and the great scientist, who created a whole era in the development of physiological science, is no more. The coffin with the body of the scientist was exhibited in the great hall of the Uritsky Palace. Not only Leningraders came to say goodbye to the illustrious son of Russia, but also numerous envoys from other cities of the country. In the guard of honor at the coffin of Pavlov stood his orphaned students and followers. Accompanied by thousands of people, the coffin with the body of Pavlov on a gun carriage was delivered to the Volkovskoye cemetery, IP Pavlov was buried near the grave of the outstanding Russian scientist D. I. Mendeleev. Our party, the Soviet government and the people have done everything so that the deeds and name of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov live for centuries.

Many scientific institutes and higher educational institutions have been named after the great physiologist, monuments have been erected to him, a complete collection of his works and individual works in Russian and foreign languages ​​have been published, valuable scientific materials from his handwritten fund, collections of memoirs of Soviet and foreign scientists about him, a collection of his correspondence with prominent domestic and foreign figures of science and culture, a chronicle of his life and work, a large number of separate brochures and books dedicated to his life and scientific work, new scientific institutions were organized for the further development of the richest scientific heritage of I.P. Pavlov, including the largest Moscow Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, a prize and a gold medal named after him have been established, a special periodical publication "Journal of Higher Nervous Activity named after academician I.P. Pavlov" has been created, special all-Union meetings on higher nervous activity are regularly convened.

Bibliography:

1. Yu.P. Frolov. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Memoirs, Publishing House of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 1949.
2. PC. Anokhin. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Life, activity and scientific school. Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, 1949.
3. E.A. Hasratyan. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. Life, creativity, the current state of teaching. Publishing house "Nauka", Moscow, 1981.
4. I.P. Pavlov in the memoirs of his contemporaries. L .: Nauka, 1967.

The great Russian scientist, physiologist, creator of the materialistic doctrine of the higher nervous activity of animals and humans. Graduate of St. Petersburg University (1876) and Medical-Surgical Academy (1879). Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1907), Russian Academy of Sciences (1917), USSR Academy of Sciences (1925). Nobel Prize winner (1904).

Main scientific works

"Centrifugal nerves of the heart" (1883); "Lectures on the work of the main digestive glands" (1897); “Twenty years of experience in the objective study of the higher nervous activity (behavior) of animals. Conditioned reflexes "(1923); "Lectures on the work of the cerebral hemispheres" (1927.

Contribution to the development of medicine

From 1878, he headed the research laboratory at the clinic of S.P. Botkin at the Military Medical Academy.

He headed the physiological department of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and the Department of Pharmacology of the Military Medical Academy (since 1890).

In 1904, he received the Nobel Prize for his work on digestion.

From 1907, he headed the physiological laboratory of the Academy of Sciences (which in the Soviet period became the largest physiological institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, now bearing the name of I.P. Pavlov).

He supervised the work of the biological station, organized for his research by decision of the Council of People's Commissars (1921) in the village of Koltushi (now Pavlovo) near Leningrad.

The scientific significance of the works of I.P. Pavlov is so great that the history of physiology is divided into stages - pre-pavlovsk and pavlovsky.

He created fundamentally new methods of research, introduced into practice the method of chronic experiment, which makes it possible to study the activity of a normal organism in its connection with the environment.

The most outstanding studies of I.P. Pavlov relate to the field of physiology of blood circulation, physiology of digestion and higher nervous activity.

For the first time on the heart of a warm-blooded animal, he showed the existence of special nerve fibers that enhance and weaken the activity of the heart. In the future, this served as the basis for the development of his theory of the trophic function of the nervous system.

He showed that the activity of the digestive tract is under the regulatory influence of the cerebral cortex.

The completion of physiological work on blood circulation and digestion was his teaching on higher nervous activity.

He showed that at the heart of the so-called. mental (mental) activity are material, physiological processes occurring in the higher part of the central nervous system - the cerebral cortex.

He discovered and studied the conditioned reflexes underlying higher nervous activity. Revealed a number of the most complex processes occurring in the brain.

He explained the mechanism of sleep, hypnosis, characterized the types of the nervous system, explained the essence of a number of human mental illnesses and suggested methods for their treatment.

Studying the higher nervous activity of man, he developed the doctrine of the second signal system, which, unlike the first signal system inherent in man and animals, is characteristic only of man (articulate speech and abstract thinking). Through signaling systems, the human brain reflects all the diversity of the external world, analyzes and synthesizes incoming stimuli, which constitutes the physiological foundations of human thinking.

For the first time in the history of physiology, he applied sterile operations on animals on a large scale.

The teachings of I.P. Pavlov had a huge impact on the development of physiology, medicine, psychology, and pedagogy.

In 1935, the International Physiological Congress, chaired by I.P. Pavlov in Leningrad and Moscow, awarded him the title "Elders physiologists of the world" (princeps physiologorum mundi).

In the 1920s and 1930s, IP Pavlov repeatedly spoke out (in letters to the country's leadership) against arbitrariness, violence, and the suppression of freedom of thought.

In "Letter to the youth" (1935) I.P. Pavlov wrote: “Learn the basics of science before you try to climb it... Learn to do the dirty work of science... Never think you know everything. And no matter how highly you are valued, always have the courage to say to yourself: "I am an ignoramus."

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov is one of the most famous physiologists in the world, who overshadowed his teachers, a bold experimenter, the first Russian Nobel Prize winner, a possible prototype of Bulgakov's professor Preobrazhensky.

Surprisingly, little is known about his personality in his homeland. We have studied the biography of this outstanding man and will tell you a few facts about his life and legacy.

1.

Ivan Pavlov was born into the family of a Ryazan priest. After the theological school, he entered the seminary, but, contrary to the wishes of his father, he did not become a clergyman. In 1870, Pavlov came across Ivan Sechenov's book Reflexes of the Brain, became interested in physiology and entered St. Petersburg University. Pavlov's specialty was animal physiology.

2.

In his first year, Pavlov's teacher of inorganic chemistry was Dmitri Mendeleev, who had published his periodic table the year before. And Pavlov's younger brother worked as an assistant for Mendeleev.

3.

Pavlov's favorite teacher was Ilya Zion, one of the most controversial personalities of his time. Pavlov wrote about him: “We were directly struck by his masterfully simple presentation of the most complex physiological issues and his truly artistic ability to set up experiments. Such a teacher is not forgotten all his life.

Zion irritated many colleagues and students with his integrity and incorruptibility, was a vivisector, anti-Darwinist, quarreled with Sechenov and Turgenev.

Once at an art exhibition, he had a fight with the artist Vasily Vereshchagin (Vereshchagin hit him on the nose with a hat, and Zion claimed that with a candlestick). It is believed that Zion was one of the compilers of the Protocol of the Elders of Zion.

4.

Pavlov was an implacable opponent of communism. “You believe in a world revolution in vain. You are sowing across the cultural world not a revolution, but fascism with great success. There was no fascism before your revolution,” he wrote to Molotov in 1934.

When the purges began among the intelligentsia, Pavlov wrote to Stalin in a rage: "Today I am ashamed that I am Russian." But even for such statements, the scientist was not touched.

He was defended by Nikolai Bukharin, and Molotov forwarded letters to Stalin with the signature: "Today the Council of People's Commissars received a new nonsense letter from Academician Pavlov."

The scientist was not afraid of punishment. “The revolution caught me almost at the age of 70. And somehow a firm conviction settled in me that the term of an active human life is exactly 70 years. And so I boldly and openly criticized the revolution. I said to myself: “To hell with them! Let them shoot. Anyway, life is over, I will do what my dignity demanded of me.

5.

Pavlov's children were named Vladimir, Vera, Victor and Vsevolod. The only child whose name did not begin with V was Mirchik Pavlov, who died in infancy. The youngest, Vsevolod, also lived a short life: he died a year before his father.

6.

Many distinguished guests visited the village of Koltushi, where Pavlov lived.

In 1934 Pavlov was visited by the Nobel laureate Niels Bohr and his wife, and the science fiction writer Herbert Wells and his son, zoologist George Philip Wells.

A few years earlier, H. G. Wells had written an article about Pavlov for The New York Times, which helped to popularize the Russian scientist in the West. After reading this article, the young literary scholar Burres Frederick Skinner decided to change careers and became a behavioral psychologist. In 1972, Skinner was named the most prominent psychologist of the 20th century by the American Psychological Association.

7.

Pavlov was an avid collector. First, he collected butterflies: he grew, caught, begged from traveling friends (the pearl of the collection was a bright blue, with a metallic sheen, a butterfly from Madagascar). Then he became interested in stamps: a Siamese prince once presented him with stamps of his state. For each birthday of a member of the family, Pavlov gave him another collection of works.

Pavlov had a collection of paintings that began with a portrait of his son, which was made by Nikolai Yaroshenko.

Pavlov explained the passion for collecting as a goal reflex. “The life of only that red and strong, who all his life strives for a constantly achieved, but never achievable goal, or with the same ardor moves from one goal to another. All life, all its improvements, all its culture becomes a reflex of the goal, becomes only people striving for this or that goal they have set for themselves in life.

8.

Pavlov's favorite painting was Vasnetsov's "Three Bogatyrs": the physiologist saw in Ilya, Dobrynya and Alyosha images of three temperaments.

9.

On the far side of the moon, next to the Jules Verne crater, is the Pavlov crater. And between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid (1007) Pavlovia is circling, also named after the physiologist.

10.

Pavlov received the Nobel Prize for a series of works on the physiology of the digestive tract in 1904, eight years after the death of its founder. But in the Nobel speech, the laureate said that their paths had already crossed.

Ten years earlier, Nobel had sent Pavlov and his colleague Marcellius Nenetsky a large sum to support their laboratories.

“Alfred Nobel showed a keen interest in physiological experiments and offered us several very instructive projects of experiments that touched on the highest tasks of physiology, the question of aging and dying of organisms.” Thus, it can be considered that he received the Nobel Prize twice.

Such a person was hiding behind the big name and strict white beard of the academician.

In the design of the article, a frame from the movie "Heart of a Dog" was used.