Born into the family of a village priest, Pavlov was educated at a theological seminary and was planning to follow in his father’s footsteps. However, a book on cerebrum reflexes that he read quite by chance radically changed his life. Ivan Pavlov abandons his religious career and enrolls in the physics and mathematics faculty of the Petersburg University. He becomes a brilliant physiologist and devotes his life to science. 

As he carried out his research on the physiology of digestion the scientist conducted an experiment on a dog and this led him to conclude that the nervous system governs the digestive system. Experiments in the field brought Pavlov world acclaim and the Nobel Prize. At the height of his success, all of a sudden, Pavlov makes a sharp turn from the research on digestion to studies of the psychic activity of animals. He had long been wondering, why dogs secrete saliva as soon as they hear their food bowl clink and what organ is responsible for that. On the basis of his experiments Pavlov makes a conclusion about the existence conditioned, or acquired, and unconditioned, innate, reflexes. 

In his further experiments the scientist discovers that the cortex of the great hemispheres is the receptacle of conditioned reflexes and the sub-cortex area – of unconditioned ones. Similarly, human beings harbor two sources that can either be in harmony or in conflict. The upper part of the cerebrum, the home of our life experience, hinders the activity of the lower part – a source of hereditary properties. Temporary ties dominate the inborn ones. It does happen sometimes that we have to exert so much effort to stifle excessive discretion or unrestrained passion that can lead to a tragic ending. The discovery of reflexes had a great importance for studies of the higher nervous activity of animals and human beings and began to be used widely in psychiatry, biology, psychology and pedagogy. 

Pavlov was an indefatigable researcher. His mind was occupied with work all the time. When Newton was asked, how he discovered the laws governing the movement of heavenly bodies, the scientist replied that it was all very simple, he just never stopped thinking about them. And neither did Pavlov. Whatever he started talking about it all boiled down to scientific ideas. He was also an outstandingly talented lecturer. One of his foreign colleagues said he might have made an excellent actor. Indeed, his speech and manners were highly emotional and saturated with humor. Speaking at congresses in Europe and America the scientist voiced strikingly daring ideas, which he insisted on and compelled the scientific community to accept. 

Pavlov was often reprimanded for slaughtering hundreds of dogs in the course of his experiments. To this the scientist replied that when he starts an experiment that will end with the animal being killed, he feels sorry about that, about being a slaughterer cutting short a life in its prime. But he had to step over it, he said, in the interests of truth and for the good of people. Pavlov liked laboratory dogs and for most distinguished ones granted a “pension”, as he put it, feeding them until they died. In appreciation for the contribution the dogs made to science Pavlov built a memorial in front of his clinic. 

Ivan Pavlov continued his scientific work regardless of whatever events occurred in the country. The First World War of 1914-16, the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which changed Russia beyond recognition, had no influence on his studies. He did not accept the Soviets and was about to leave the country. But Lenin’s government was interested in the world renowned scientist to stay. He was granted the best possible in those days conditions for work. 

Scientific experiments required tremendous effort and to keep up with the schedule Pavlov divided the year into ten months of brain-work and two months of rest, which he spent working at his dacha. He carefully planned his time and saved energy and health. He was lively and energetic at 60, 70 and 80, loved open-air outings, gorodki, a game similar to skittles, which he called “a joy for the muscles”, and growing flowers. He died at 86 leaving a legacy that sustains the human race to this day. 
 
 
 
 
 

09/28/05