Ivan Pavlov

He had a difficult personal life in spite of all his professional successes. He married Seraphima Vasilievna in 1881. The couple suffered from financial problems during the early years of their marriage and also had to bear the loss of a child. They eventually had four surviving children.

Pavlov died of double pneumonia in 1936 at the age of 86.

Ivan Pavlov was born to Peter Dmitrievich Pavlov, a village priest and Varvara Ivanovna, a homemaker. He was the eldest of 11 siblings and loved to do household chores and take care of his younger brothers and sisters.

An active child, he loved to garden, cycle, swim and row. He also liked to read. However, a serious injury kept him away from school till he was about 11 years old.

He attended the Ryazan Ecclesiastical High School and later went to the Ryazan Ecclesiastical Seminary. As a youngster, he planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and pursue a career in theology.

During this time he was exposed to the works of Charles Darwin and Ivan Sechenov which influenced him to study natural sciences. Thus, he quit the seminary in 1870.

He enrolled at the University of St. Petersburg to study physics, mathematics and natural sciences. There he met Professor Cyon who taught physiology and Ivan was influenced by him to become a physiologist.

He became a laboratory assistant to Professor Ustimovich at the physiological department of the Veterinary Institute in 1876 and held this position till 1878.

He completed the course he was studying at the Academy of Medical Surgery in 1879 and was awarded a gold medal.

He won a fellowship to pursue postgraduate work at the Medical Military Academy in 1880. He discovered the dynamic nerves of the heart and presented his doctor’s thesis on ‘The Centrifugal nerves of the heart’ and gave the concept of nervism.

He became a lecturer in physiology at the Military Medical Academy in 1884 and went to Germany for a period of two years to study with Carl Ludwig in the Heidenhain laboratories where he began to study the digestive system of dogs.

He was made the Professor of Pharmacology at the Military Medical Academy in 1890 and was appointed as the head of the physiology department in 1895. He held this position till 1925.

His biggest contribution towards science is his research on the physiology of digestive system which led to the creation of the Classical Conditioning model of experimentation. He contributed immensely to the field of neurological sciences by discovering conditioning and involuntary reflex actions.