Ivan Pavlov

Lore & Background

After completing his doctorate, Pavlov went to Germany, where he studied in Leipzig with Carl Ludwig and in the Heidenhain laboratories in Breslau. He remained there from 1884 to 1886.

Heidenhain was studying digestion in dogs, using an exteriorized section of the stomach. However, Pavlov perfected the technique by overcoming the problem of maintaining the external nerve supply. The exteriorized section became known as the Heidenhain or Pavlov pouch.

Reader's Guide

Pavlov was born on 26 September 1849 in Ryazan, Russia. He attended the Ryazan church school before entering the local theological seminary. Inspired by Dmitry Pisarev and Ivan Sechenov, he abandoned his religious career and devoted his life to science.

In 1870, he enrolled at the University of Saint Petersburg. He received the degree of Candidate of Natural Sciences in 1875. He later graduated from the Medical Military Academy in 1879 with a gold medal. In 1883, he presented his doctor's thesis on the centrifugal nerves of the heart.

He was appointed professor of Pharmacology at the Military Medical Academy in 1890 and took up the chair of physiology there in 1895, heading the department for three decades. He also directed the Department of Physiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine from 1891. Pavlov died on 27 February 1936 of double pneumonia.

Did You Know?

• Pavlov was the first of ten children.
• He could read by age seven but did not begin formal schooling until age 11 due to injuries from a fall.
• Pavlov held laboratory meetings called 'Wednesday meetings' from 1921 until his death.
• He asked a student to record the circumstances of his dying to create evidence of subjective experiences of the terminal phase of life.