Lev Vygotsky

He was married to Rosa Smekhova, and they had two daughters.

Lev Vygotsky died of Tuberculosis on 11 June, 1934, in Moscow, Russia. He was just 37 at the time of his death

Lev Vygotsky was born on 17 November 1896 in the town of Orsha, in the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus) into a well-to-do family of Jewish ancestry. His father was a banker. His mother had trained to be a teacher but she chose not to work and considered her family to be her priority. He had seven siblings.

He grew up in the city of Gomel, Belarus, and received his primary education there. He was a good student and performed very well at school.

After graduating from secondary school he enrolled at the University of Moscow in 1913 and initially studied medicine. Later on he realized that he was more interested in legal studies and switched to law. Alongside his formal education he also continued his self-directed studies in philosophy.

After completing his education in 1917 he returned to Gomel and embarked on a teaching career. Eventually he set up a research laboratory at the Teacher's College of Gomel.

Lev Vygotsky participated in the Second All-Russian Psychoneurological Congress in Leningrad in January 1924 where he made a presentation on the methods of reflexological and psychological investigation. His presentation was much appreciated and he was offered a position as a research fellow at the Psychological Institute of Moscow.

Thus he moved to Moscow where he lived in the basement of the Institute. His first research project in 1925 was a dissertation on the psychology of art. He always had a deep interest in the psychology of education and remediation, particularly in the education of children with learning disabilities. He went on to form the Laboratory of Psychology for Abnormal Childhood in Moscow.

He went to London in 1925 and upon his return to the Soviet Union he fell severely ill. He was suffering from tuberculosis and was hospitalized. He somehow survived the illness though he became extremely weak and invalid. He remained out of work until the end of 1926.

His essay, ‘Consciousness as a problem in the Psychology of Behavior’ was published in 1925 while ‘Educational Psychology’ was out in 1926.

In spite of his death at the young age of 37, he made major contributions to the field of psychology, especially in the areas of Human Development, Historical cultural theory, and Development of thought and language. Though considered controversial during his lifetime, his works garnered considerable interest years after his death.