Ivan Sechenov short biography. Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov: biography and main works
Sechenov Ivan Mikhailovich short biography naturalist, founder of the Russian physiological scientific school, is described in this article.
Ivan Sechenov short biography
The future scientist was born August 13, 1829 in the village of Teply Stan, Simbirsk province in the family of a noble landowner and his former serf.
In 1848 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Engineering School and went to serve in the army in Kyiv. Sechenov retired in 1850 and entered the Faculty of Medicine at Moscow University. From the university he trained in Germany, where he met and became friends with D. I. Mendeleev, S. P. Botkin, A. P. Borodin (composer), A. Ivanov (artist).
In 1860, Sechenov returned to the city of St. Petersburg, defended his dissertation and became a doctor of medical sciences. After that, he was offered to lead a department at the Medical-Surgical Academy and a laboratory in which research was carried out in the field of toxicology, physiology, clinical medicine and pharmacology.
In 1861, Ivan Mikhailovich met Maria Alexandrovna Bokova, who wanted to become a doctor and receive an appropriate education. But at that time a woman get higher education it was very difficult, such are mores. She began to attend lectures at the Medico-Surgical Academy, and Sechenov tried in every possible way to help her in her studies. Under his guidance, Maria Bokova wrote her doctoral dissertation and successfully defended it in Zurich. Subsequently, she became his wife and faithful companion until the end of her life.
From 1876 to 1901 he taught at the University of Moscow. For more than 20 years, Ivan Mikhailovich studied the gases and respiratory functions of the blood, studied the reflexes of the brain. He owns the discovery of the phenomenon of central inhibition in 1863, which was described in the work "Reflexes of the brain".
Research and writings by I.M. Sechenov were devoted mainly to three problems: physiology nervous system, the chemistry of breathing and the physiological foundations of mental activity. With his works, I.M. Sechenov initiated national physiology and created the materialistic school of Russian physiologists, which played an important role in the development of physiology, psychology and medicine not only in Russia but throughout the world. His work on the physiology of respiration and blood, gas exchange, the dissolution of gases in liquids, and energy exchange laid the foundations for future aviation and space physiology.
Works on the study of blood gases were carried out by I.M. Sechenov throughout his scientific career and were started by him in 1859 in Ludwig's laboratory in Vienna when he was completing one of the sections of his doctoral dissertation "Materials for the future physiology of alcohol intoxication."
Having studied blood gases and temperature in many organs, Sechenov came to the conclusion that alcohol suppresses chemical processes in tissues, causes increased respiration and cardiac activity, and changes the functions of many organs. He refuted the then-existing opinion that alcohol allegedly stimulates the blood supply to the brain. In experiments on himself, Sechenov showed that alcohol not only changes the activity of various body systems, but also enhances the release of water.
Sechenov's dissertation was the first ever fundamental study of the effect of alcohol on the body. It is necessary to pay attention to the general physiological provisions and conclusions formulated in it: firstly, “all movements that are called arbitrary in physiology are, in the strict sense, reflective”; secondly, “the most general character of the normal activity of the brain (since it is expressed by movement) is a discrepancy between excitation and the action it causes - movement”; And finally, "the reflex activity of the brain is more extensive than that of the spinal cord."
Sechenov was the first to carry out a complete extraction of all gases from the blood and determined their amount in serum and erythrocytes. Particularly much attention was paid to the study of the question of the state of carbon dioxide in the blood. This question was, apparently, the main one in the scientific activity of I.M. Sechenov at Novorossiysk University. As a result of extensive experimental work, he obtained important data on the respiratory function of the blood. Some of them are discoveries of paramount importance. So, studying the absorption and release of carbon dioxide by blood serum, I.M. Sechenov comes to the important conclusion that “the liquid part of the blood is better adapted to perform the respiratory function than water solution bicarbonate." It more intensively absorbs carbon dioxide from the tissues of the body and quickly releases it into the alveoli of the lungs than bicarbonate. These properties of blood serum are due to the presence of globulins in it.
Particularly important results were obtained by I.M. Sechenov in studying the role of erythrocytes in the transfer and exchange of carbon dioxide. He was the first to show that carbon dioxide is found in erythrocytes not only in a state of physical dissolution, and in the form of bicarbonate, but also in an unstable state. chemical compound with hemoglobin. Based on I.M. Sechenov came to the conclusion that erythrocytes carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues and carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs.
Professor Sechenov spoke to students about the great role of the external environment in the life of organisms. It is with it that life and all its manifestations are connected. All complex manifestations of animal life are associated with the activity of the central nervous system. Outwardly, they are expressed in certain actions and movements. Irritation received from outside entails excitation of the corresponding part of the nervous system, and this stimulates certain organs to action. Any irritation causes one or another "response" of the nervous system, i.e. reflex.
Reflexes are simple and complex, but any of them requires a reflex arc. It consists of the leading path (from the point of irritation to the brain), the closing part (the corresponding section of the cerebral cortex) and the centrifugal part (the nerve and the organ through which the “answer” will be given, i.e. the reflex is carried out).
He carried out all the experiments on frogs using the method proposed by the German physiologist Türk: one of the hind legs of the experimental frog was immersed in a weak aqueous solution of sulfuric acid and the time was noted while this leg remained motionless.
In extremely subtle experiments, Sechenov made four sections of the brain of a frog and then observed how the reflex movements changed under the influence of each of them. The experiments yielded interesting results: inhibition of reflected activity was observed only after brain incisions were made directly in front of the thalamus opticus and in them themselves.
Summing up the results of the experiments of the first series - with sections of the brain, Sechenov suggested the existence of centers in the brain that delay reflected movements: in a frog they are located in the optic tubercles and, perhaps, in the medulla oblongata.
But this idea, although based on a series of experiments, was still a hypothesis. In search of scientific truth, he called for help the method of stimulation of the brain that had been repeatedly tested and fully justified itself even in the first scientific works.
Thus began the second series of experiments, during which Sechenov produced chemical stimulation of various parts of the brain of a frog with table salt.
It turned out that salt applied to a transverse section of the brain in a rhombic space always caused the same strong inhibition of reflective activity as the section of the brain in this place. Depression, but not so strong, was also observed with stimulation of the transverse section of the brain behind the visual tubercles (hence, the upper part of the medulla oblongata). Electrical stimulation of the transverse sections of the brain gave the same results.
So, it was possible to formulate conclusions. First, in frogs, the mechanisms that delay reflected movements lie in the thalamus and medulla oblongata. Secondly, these mechanisms should be considered as nerve centers. Thirdly, one of the physiological ways of excitation of these mechanisms to activity is represented by fibers of sensory nerves.
Thoughtful physiologically based experiments by I.M. Sechenov were crowned with a remarkable result - the discovery of central inhibition, a special physiological function of the brain. The inhibitory center in the thalamic region is called the Sechenov center.
Central (Sechenov's) inhibition, discovered by Sechenov, demonstrated for the first time that, along with the process of excitation, there is another active process - inhibition, without which the integrative activity of the central nervous system is unthinkable.
It should be added that experiments with irritation of the visual tubercles with salt crystals allowed Sechenov to make two cardinal discoveries. But if the first of them - the discovery of the process of inhibition - was duly appreciated by his contemporaries, then the second - the discovery of reticulo-spinal influences (the influence of the reticular formation of the brain stem on spinal reflexes) - received wide recognition only starting from the 40s years of the twentieth century, after elucidating the functions of the reticular formation of the brain.
Another discovery by a Russian scientist dates back to the 1860s. Investigating in an experiment the irritating effect of galvanic and induction currents on the sensory spinal nerves of a frog, Sechenov found out that the nerve centers are little sensitive to jerky shocks along the nerve, and individual shocks are summarized by the nerve centers into a coordinated movement. The scientist proved that the nerve centers have the ability "to sum up sensitive, one by one, not valid irritations (induction shocks applied to the sciatic nerve) to an impulse that gives movement if these irritations follow each other quite often."
The phenomenon of summation is an important characteristic of nervous activity, first discovered by I.M. Sechenov in experiments on frogs, was then established in experiments on other animals, vertebrates and invertebrates, and received universal meaning. Discovery of I.M. Sechenov, the phenomenon of summation as a special form of activity of nerve centers was highly appreciated by physiologists.
Sechenov defined the Cartesian "reflex" as nothing more than a response to the excitation of receptors, information from which enters the centers of the spinal cord and brain. In the brain, the received information is analyzed, then an “order” is formed, which is transmitted to effectors, or executive organs. Thus, for the first time the question was raised about the reflex nature of human mental activity and about the reflexes of his brain. It was also pointed out that any reflex reaction in the body eventually ends with a motor act. Sechenov wrote: “Does a child laugh at the sight of a toy, does Garibaldi smile when he is persecuted for excessive love for the Motherland, does a girl tremble at the first thought of love, does Newton create world laws and write them on paper - everywhere the final factor is muscle movement .".
At the heart of involuntary (involuntary) movements, Sechenov pointed out, lies, first of all, a reflective mechanism that enhances or delays reflexes. Arbitrary movements do not have sensual excitation. mental development a person is controlled by the external environment due to the ability of the sense organs to perceive its influences in the form of sensations, their analysis in space and time, their combination or grouping in the central nervous system.
Observing the behavior and formation of the child's consciousness, Sechenov showed how innate reflexes become more complex with age, enter into various connections with each other and create the entire complexity of human behavior. He wrote that all acts of conscious and unconscious life, by way of origin, are reflexes.
It is now well known that many manifestations of the organism's activity depend not only on the external environment, but also on heredity.
Sechenov said that the reflex also underlies memory. This means that all voluntary (conscious) movements are in the strict sense reflected, that is, reflex. Consequently, a person acquires the ability to group movements by repeating connecting (associated) reflexes. With the same reflexes, he delays these movements, which underlies the phenomena in which mental activity remains in the form of thought, desire, intention, reflection. “Thought,” according to Sechenov, “is the first two-thirds of a psychological reflex.”
In 1866, the manual "Physiology of the Nervous System" was published, in which Sechenov summarized his experience. Analyzing the mechanism of ataxia (a disease in which the sensitivity of the skin and muscles is turned off, which leads to a violation of normal coordination movements), he came to the conclusion that a person can subconsciously feel his muscles, and called this sensation "dark muscle feeling". The idea that it is the "muscle feeling" together with skin and visual sensations that allows you to consciously coordinate movements predetermined the emergence and development of a large and important section of physiology - the doctrine of proprioception.
In the autumn of 1889, at Moscow University, the scientist delivered a course of lectures on physiology, which became the basis of the generalizing work Physiology of the Nerve Centers (1891). In this work, an analysis of various nervous phenomena was carried out - from unconscious reactions in spinal animals to higher forms of perception in humans. The last part of this work is devoted to questions of experimental psychology. In 1894 he published "Physiological criteria for setting the length of the working day", and in 1901 - "Essay on the working movements of man." Of significant interest is also the work "Scientific activity of Russian universities in natural science over the past twenty-five years", written and published in 1883.
THEM. Sechenov is one of the founders of Russian electrophysiology. His monograph On Animal Electricity (1862) was the first work on electrophysiology in Russia. It attracted great attention and contributed to the emergence of physiologists' interest in electrical phenomena in living tissues and electrophysiological research methods. Great importance for the development of domestic electrophysiology had the ideas developed in it about the nature of the excitation process.
The name of Sechenov is associated with the creation of the first physiological scientific school in Russia, which was formed and developed at the Medico-Surgical Academy, Novorossiysk, St. Petersburg and Moscow Universities. At the Medico-Surgical Academy, Ivan Mikhailovich introduced the method of demonstrating an experiment into lecture practice. This contributed to the emergence of a close connection between the pedagogical process and research work and to a large extent predetermined the success of the Sechenov on the way to the creation of a scientific school.
Ivan Mikhailovich studied in depth various areas of philosophy and psychology, argued with representatives of various philosophical and psychological trends - with Konstantin Kavelin, G. Struve. In 1873, "Psychological Studies" were published, combining "Reflexes of the Brain" (4th edition), objections to Kavelin and the article "To whom and how to develop psychology."
Unlike a number of spontaneous materialists - naturalists I.M. Sechenov was a conscious champion of materialistic philosophy. He actively preached materialism as the only scientific worldview compatible with natural science and defended it from attacks by representatives of philosophical idealism of all shades. With his materialistic views, I.M. Sechenov differed significantly from his foreign contemporaries - J. Muller, Claude Bernard, G. Helmholtz, E. Dubois-Reymond, who took the position of agnosticism and idealism.
Already in an early work, his dissertation in 1860, along with the conclusions of a special nature arising from the experimental part of the work, I.M. Sechenov put forward a number of philosophical propositions: about the material unity of the world, about the unity of forces acting in organic and inorganic nature, about the unity of the organism and the conditions of existence, about the possibility of uncovering the secret of consciousness by objective methods of the natural sciences, in particular physiology. These theses of the dissertation were shown by I.M. Sechenov as a consistent materialist, a worthy student of N. G. Chernyshevsky. In them I.M. Sechenov outlined a program for further work in the physiology of the nervous system. In subsequent works, Sechenov repeatedly dwelled on these provisions and developed them. THEM. Sechenov wrote: “The basis of all our reasoning is the immutable conviction inherent in every person in the existence of the external world, immutable to the same or even much greater extent than everyone’s confidence that tomorrow, after tonight, there will be a day.”
With his research, I.M. Sechenov solved the most difficult problem of natural science. The brain, which in its highest formation - human brain created and creates natural science (IP Pavlov), he himself became the object of this natural science. This was a remarkable blow to the idealistic doctrine of the psyche. THEM. Sechenov turned out to be immeasurably superior to the vulgar materialists of his day, who tried to reduce mental processes entirely to physical and chemical laws. Discoveries of I.M. Sechenov irrefutably proved that mental activity, like bodily activity, is subject to quite definite objective laws, is due to natural material causes, and does not represent a manifestation of some special “soul” independent of the body and environmental conditions. Thus, an end was put to the religious-idealistic separation of the mental from the physical and the foundations were laid for a scientific materialistic understanding of the spiritual life of man. THEM. Sechenov proved that the first cause of any human action, deed, is rooted not in the inner world of a person, but outside it, in the specific conditions of his life and activity, and that no thought is possible without external sensory stimulation. This I.M. Sechenov spoke out against the idealistic theory of "free will" characteristic of the reactionary worldview.
The last years of his life, Sechenov devoted to the study of the physiological foundations of the regime of work and rest of a person. He discovered a lot of interesting things, and most importantly, he established that sleep and just rest are not the same thing, that eight hours of sleep is mandatory, while the other 16 hours are allotted for work and rest. At the end of the XIX century. Sechenov spoke in a public lecture about an eight-hour working day. And as a physiologist, analyzing the work of the heart, he came to the conclusion that the working day should be even shorter. Sechenov established that complete rest does not necessarily mean rest. Active rest, when various working organs of the body alternately act, is an excellent remedy for fatigue.
Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov(1 (13) August - 2 (15) November) - Russian educator and creator of the physiological school.
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Sechenov translated a lot, edited translations of books by foreign scientists in the field of physiology, physics, medical chemistry, biology, history of science, pathology, and he radically revised works on physiology and pathology and supplemented them with the results of his own research. For example, in 1867, Ivan Mikhailovich's manual "Physiology of the Sense Organs" was published. Revised work "Anatomy und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane" von A. Fick. 1862-1864. "Vision", and in 1871-1872, under his editorship, a translation of Charles Darwin's work "The Descent of Man" was published in Russia. The merits of I. M. Sechenov are not only the spread of Darwinism in Russia, where, for example, A. N. Beketov came to evolutionary ideas independently of Wallace and Darwin, but also the synthesis of physicochemical and evolutionary theories carried out by him for the first time in the world and the application of ideas Darwinism to the problems of physiology and psychology. I. M. Sechenov can rightfully be considered the forerunner modern development evolutionary physiology and evolutionary biochemistry in Russia.
The name of Sechenov is associated with the creation of the first all-Russian physiological scientific school, which was formed and developed at the Medico-Surgical Academy, Novorossiysk (now Odessa National University named after I. I. Mechnikov), St. Petersburg and Moscow Universities. At the Medical-Surgical Academy, independently of the Kazan School, Ivan Mikhailovich introduced the method of demonstrating an experiment into lecture practice. This contributed to the emergence of a close connection between the pedagogical process and research work and to a large extent predetermined Sechenov's success on the path of creating his own scientific school.
The physiological laboratory organized by the scientist at the Medico-Surgical Academy was the center of research in the field of not only physiology, but also pharmacology, toxicology and clinical medicine.
In the autumn of 1889, at Moscow University, the scientist gave a course of lectures on physiology, which became the basis of the generalizing work Physiology of the Nerve Centers (1891). In this work, an analysis of various nervous phenomena was carried out - from unconscious reactions in spinal animals to higher forms of perception in humans. The last part of this work is devoted to questions of experimental psychology. In 1894 he published "Physiological criteria for setting the length of the working day", and in 1901 - "Essay on the working movements of man." Of significant interest is also the work "Scientific activity of Russian universities in natural science over the past twenty-five years", written and published in 1883.
Brain research. Central braking
Even in the "Theses" for his doctoral dissertation, Sechenov put forward a position on the originality of reflexes, the centers of which lie in the brain, and a number of ideas that contributed to the subsequent study of the brain.
The experiments were demonstrated by Sechenov to Bernard, in Berlin and Vienna to Dubois-Reymond, Ludwig and E. Brücke. The thalamic center of inhibition of the reflex reaction was called the "Sechenov center", and the phenomenon of central inhibition was called Sechenov's inhibition. An article in which Sechenov described the phenomenon of central inhibition appeared in print in 1866. According to Charles Sherrington (1900), from that moment on, the assumption about the inhibitory effect of one part of the nervous system on another, expressed by Hippocrates, was adopted by the doctrine. The universal recognition and scientific character of this suggestion of Hippocrates was hampered by the idea of the need for the existence of a comprehensive system of inhibitory nerves for this, the absence of which was proved by Sechenov by the discovery of central inhibition.
In the same year, Sechenov published Supplements to the Teaching on Nerve Centers Delaying Reflected Movements, in which the question was discussed whether there are specific inhibitory mechanisms in the brain or whether the action of inhibitory centers extends to all muscle systems and functions. Thus, the concept of non-specific brain systems was first put forward.
Later, he gives public lectures "On the Elements of Visual Thinking", which in 1878 he revised and published under the title "Elements of Thought". In 1881-1882, Sechenov began a new cycle of work on the central inhibition of the brain.
They discovered spontaneous oscillations of biocurrents in the medulla oblongata.
Sechenov and psychology
Ivan Mikhailovich studied in depth various areas of philosophy and psychology, argued with representatives of various philosophical and psychological trends - P.L. Lavrov, Konstantin Kavelin, G. Struve. In 1873, "Psychological Etudes" was published, combining "Reflexes of the Brain" (4th edition), objections to Kavelin and the article "To whom and how to develop psychology." Sechenov applied psychology in pedagogical and social activities, participated in the work of new jury trials as a juror and was friends with many well-known judicial figures, was a world mediator in disputes between peasants and landowners.
The most important contribution of Sechenov to psychology was "... a radical shift in the starting point psychological thinking from directly given phenomena of consciousness, which for centuries were considered the first reality for the cognizing mind, to objective behavior,” wrote Mikhail Yaroshevsky. It was, in the words of Ivan Pavlov, "... truly for that time an extraordinary attempt ... to imagine our subjective world purely physiologically."
In the 1890s, Sechenov published a series of works on problems of psychophysiology and the theory of knowledge (Impressions and Reality, 1890; On Objective Thinking from a Physiological Point of View, 1894), significantly reworking the epistemological treatise Elements of Thought.
Based on the achievements of the physiology of the sense organs and the study of the functions of the motor apparatus, Ivan Mikhailovich develops ideas about the muscle as an organ for reliable knowledge of the spatio-temporal relations of things. According to Sechenov, sensory signals sent by a working muscle make it possible to build images of external objects, as well as to relate objects to each other and thus serve as the bodily basis for coordination of movements and elementary forms of thinking. These ideas about muscle sensitivity stimulated the development of the modern theory of the mechanism of sensory perception.
For the first time, “muscular feeling” (proprioception) was discovered by I. M. Sechenov long before the President of the British Royal Society (analogous to the Academy of Sciences) Sherrington, who recognized the priority of the “Russian scientist”, but in 1932 was single-handedly awarded after the death of our genius, awarded only to living researchers Nobel Prize for the results obtained by him and I. M. Sechenov.
Sechenov defends a rationalistic interpretation of all neuropsychic manifestations (including consciousness and will) and the approach to the organism as a whole, which was accepted by modern physiology and psychology.
Merits
Sechenov, according to the opinion accepted in Russia, turned physiology into exact science and clinical discipline used for diagnosis, choice of therapy, prognosis, development of any new methods of diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation, any new medicines, to protect a person from dangerous and harmful factors, to exclude any experiments on people in medicine, public life, all branches of science and the national economy.
Sechenov checked everything only on himself. Once he even drank a flask with tuberculosis bacilli to prove that only a weakened organism is susceptible to this infection.
In his classic work “Reflexes of the Brain” (1866), written for the Sovremennik magazine, N. A. Nekrasova substantiated the reflex nature of unconscious activity and argued in favor of a similar nature of conscious activity, assuming that physiological processes underlie all mental phenomena , which can be studied by objective methods, and which are determined by the interaction of cells, organisms and populations with the external (the main biological law of Roulier-Sechenov) and the internal environment. Censorship throughout the life of the scientist forbade the publication of the main conclusion of this work: “only with my developed view of human actions in the latter, the highest of human virtues is possible - all-forgiving love, that is, complete descent to one’s neighbor.” Free will is manifested by a purposeful change by each individual of his external and internal environment. The task of society is not to prevent a person from becoming a knight in this way. If modern physics, chemistry, mathematics cannot help humanity in this and/or explain the phenomena studied by psychology, physiology and biology, then physiologists themselves must create the necessary physical and chemical theories or set appropriate tasks for chemists and physicists. Acting as a defender of the traditions of classical medical education “on the side of the “ancient” (doctors-philosophers of antiquity) against the “new”” (“Battle of the Books”, by Jonathan Swift) opponent of R. Virchow and supporters of his concept of “cellular pathology”, for the first time in the world he formulated the doctrine of the anatomical and molecular principles of physiology, in the presentation of which, recognizing the decisive importance in normal physiology of the anatomical principle of the cellular principle of R. Virchow, which is the highest stage in the development of the anatomical principle, emphasized the importance of the molecular principle as the only possible general principle of (clinical) pathophysiology, since, in particular, cell differentiation, the formation of organs and tissues, the exchange of signals between organs, tissues, individual cells are carried out in the environment of biological fluids, and usually pathological processes are interconnected with changes chemical composition these biological fluids. Rejecting the previously dominant theory of a comprehensive system of inhibitory nerves, he proved its absence and substantiated the theory of transmission of inhibitory signals by changing the chemical composition of biological fluids, especially blood plasma. He studied renal circulation, digestion, gas exchange in the lungs, the respiratory function of the blood, discovered the role of carboxyhemoglobin in respiration and in the venous system. He discovered the phenomena of lens fluorescence, central inhibition, summation in the nervous system, the “Sechenov reflex”, established the presence of rhythmic bioelectric processes in the central nervous system, substantiated the importance of metabolic processes in the implementation of excitation. For the first time in the world, he localized the center of inhibition in the brain (the thalamic center of inhibition, the Sechenov center), discovered the influence of the reticular formation of the brain on spinal reflexes. Together with his wife, he was the first to translate into Russian the work of Charles Darwin "The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection" and was the largest popularizer of evolutionary doctrine in Russia.
Creator of the objective theory of behavior, founder of modern molecular physiology, clinical pathophysiology, clinical laboratory diagnostics, psychophysiology, narcology, hematology, neuroendocrinology, neuroimmunology, molecular medicine and biology, proteomics, bioelementology, medical biophysics, medical cybernetics, aerospace medicine, occupational physiology, age, comparative and evolutionary physiology and biochemistry. The forerunner ("uncle", as he called himself) of Russian cosmism, the synthetic theory of evolution and the creation of modern cellular technologies for the formation of artificial organs and the restoration of organs. Scientifically substantiated the need active rest("Sechenov effect") and the duration of the working day is not more than six, maximum eight hours. In addition, he established the law of the solubility of gases in aqueous solutions
Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov was an outstanding scientist, psychologist, physician, biologist, physicist and honored professor. is inextricably linked with constant learning, self-development and science. It is not for nothing that he is called a genius, the creator and father of Russian physiology! He lived for 76 years, of which about 60 devoted to education. How did the life of the future professor begin, and what did his love for knowledge lead to? The following is a brief biography of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov.
Childhood and youth
The biography of Ivan Sechenov began in the village of Teply Stan, Nizhny Novgorod Region (now it is the village of Sechenov). In 1829, on August 13, the ninth child was born in the noble Sechenov family. Ivan almost did not remember his father, he was only 10 years old when he died. However, it was the father who inspired the children from childhood that education is the most important thing (he himself was poorly educated, like his mother), and children should treat their teachers as benefactors.
Ivan, at the insistence of his older brother, it was decided to send to an engineering school. That is why he lived in the village until the age of 14, studying at home, and was the only one who learned foreign languages. Further, Sechenov's biography will be connected with permanent education.
From the memoirs of Ivan Sechenov:
I was a very ugly boy, black, shaggy, and severely disfigured by smallpox, but I must have been not stupid, very cheerful and possessed the art of imitating gaits and voices, which often amused my family and friends. There were no boys of the same age either in the families of acquaintances or in the household; I grew up all my life among women; therefore I had neither boyish manners, nor contempt for the female sex; moreover, he was taught the rules of politeness. On all these grounds, I enjoyed the love of the family and the goodwill of my acquaintances, not excluding ladies and young ladies.
Consider how Sechenov's life developed further.
Education
At the age of 14, Ivan Mikhailovich entered the school of military engineers and left for St. Petersburg. The school had 4 junior classes, where training lasted 4 years, and 2 officer classes, where they got after. The institution supported the military regime: getting up at 5 am, studying from 7 o'clock and drill. The boys also took an oath and were already considered civil servants, which saved them from corporal punishment.
In the engineering school, the emphasis was on mathematics, drawing, algebra, geometry and trigonometry. In high school, he studied analytical mechanics, integral calculus, and French literature. But the main subject, which was all 6 years of study, was fortification (military engineering science of strengthening the terrain for combat.) However, Sechenov was not fascinated by engineering, even then he passionately fell in love with one subject - physics, where he made great strides. In high school, the boy showed an interest in chemistry. As Ivan Mikhailovich himself admits in his memoirs:
Mathematics was given to me, and if I got from the engineering school straight to the university to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, a decent physicist could have come out of me, but fate, as we will see, decided otherwise.
After graduating from an engineering school in 1848 with the rank of non-commissioned officer, Sechenov was assigned to Kyiv, in the 2nd reserve engineer battalion. Two years later, the newly-minted officer resigns, with the firm intention of going to study medicine. This step was prompted by his acquaintance with the young widow Olga Alexandrovna, a very educated girl and passionate about medicine. As Sechenov himself recalls an episode of his biography:
I entered her house as a young man, floating so inertly along the channel into which fate had thrown me, without a clear consciousness of where it might lead me, and I left her house with a ready life plan, knowing where to go and what to do. Who, if not she, led me out of a situation that could become a dead loop for me, indicating the possibility of a way out. To what, if not her suggestions, I owe the fact that I went to the university - and precisely the one that she considered advanced! - to learn medicine and help others. It is possible, finally, that some of her influence was reflected in my later service to the interests of women who were making their way to an independent path.
With this intention in 1850, Sechenov entered the Moscow Medical University. He is waiting for 6 years of interesting learning, first discoveries and full awareness of the goals of his life. Although the stingy medical theory at first disappointed the future scientist, he perfectly mastered biology, anatomy, surgery and physiology. In the third year of university, Sechenov is fond of psychology. At the same time, he is attracted by philosophy. Sechenov studied very willingly, which eventually allowed him to graduate from the university in the top three students. After the medical university in 1856, Ivan Mikhailovich left to study in Berlin.
Sechenov will stay abroad for 4 years, where his career will flourish.
Career
In Berlin, the scientist works for a year, studying physics and chemistry. There he begins to work in well-known laboratories. Next - Paris, where the discovery of the so-called central inhibition was made - special mechanisms in the brain of a frog. Further publications in medical journals follow, the work "Reflexes of the brain" opened the term "reflex" to a wide audience. With this publication, the career of the future professor of physiology officially began.
In 1860, the scientist returned to St. Petersburg and defended his dissertation, having received a degree. He would work for 10 years at the Academy, making many discoveries in medicine and physics.
In 1869, he was already a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (after a number of discoveries in the theory of physiological solutions). At this time, he is the head of the Department of Zoology, organizes his own physiological laboratory.
In 1889, the professor became president of the first International Psychological Congress in Paris, at the same time receiving the title of assistant professor at Moscow University.
In 1901, I. M. Sechenov received the title of professor of physiology and officially retired. Sechenov Ivan Mikhailovich will die in 4 years.
Personal life
Considering further a brief biography of I. M. Sechenov, it can be noted that upon his return from Berlin in St. Petersburg, he met Maria Alexandrovna Bokova. The girl dreamed of becoming a doctor, which was impossible in Russia. The road to science was then closed to women. Sechenov was always outraged by such injustice, he willingly takes the girl as a listener to his lectures. At the end of the course, he invites her to write a scientific paper. Maria will complete the work and successfully defend her doctoral dissertation in Germany. Later, this purposeful student will become his wife.
Proceedings
The professor worked in several main areas: physiology, biology and psychology. During his long scientific career, many articles were published in journals and several books were written.
The biography of I. M. Sechenov and the main works will be considered below:
- the book "Reflexes of the Brain" (1866) (now this book can be bought at any bookstore, it was reprinted in 2015);
- "Physiology of the nervous system" (1866);
- the book "Elements of Thought" (1879), republished in 2014;
- "On the absorption of CO 2 by salt solutions and strong acids" (1888);
- "Physiology of nerve centers" (1891);
- "On alkalis of blood and lymph" (1893);
- "Instrument for fast and accurate analysis of gases" (1896);
- "Portable breathing apparatus" (1900);
- "Essay on the working movements of man" (1901);
- "Objective Thought and Reality" (1902);
- the book "Notes of a Russian Professor of Medicine" - an autobiographical work, the scientist's memories of childhood and years of study, republished in 2014;
- "Autobiographical notes" (1904).
Achievements
Sechenov's biography and the scientist's contribution to science are still of interest to people all over the world. Ivan Mikhailovich created a physiological school, which during its existence has made a number of discoveries that are most important for mankind. One of them is the concept of non-specific brain systems.
A lot of research in the field of medicine led to the discovery that red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, and carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs. As a result of these discoveries, Sechenov developed the first portable breathing apparatus.
Professor Sechenov devoted a lot of time to psychology. His scientific work "Psychology of Thought" is still one of the most important in the study of human thinking.
One of the major achievements in the field of biology is the discovery of inhibitory action. He also identified the cause of motor reflexes.
Awards and titles
For my long life Academician I.M. Sechenov made many important discoveries, many of which we still use in science and education. The streets and the institute are now named after Sechenov, a monument has been erected to him, his works are reprinted annually.
A scientist who lived more than a century ago "made" an exact science out of physiology. His discoveries in medicine made it possible to make huge step forward in the future. The titles and degrees of a scientist are listed below:
- Honored Professor of Moscow University;
- Academician of the Medico-Surgical Academy;
- Corresponding Member for Biological Discharge;
- honorary member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences;
- Cavalier of the Imperial I degree;
- Cavalier of the Imperial Order of St. Anne III degree;
- Cavalier of the Imperial Order of St. Vladimir III degree;
- scientific degree of doctor of medicine;
- scientific degree of doctor of zoology.
Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov is an important person in Russian science. A talented person is talented in everything. By his example, he proved the authenticity of this expression. Honored Academician and Professor Sechenov, the father of Russian physiology, worked in various fields - physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, was engaged in instrument making, educational activities and many others. The biography of Sechenov is briefly described in this article. Not deprived of attention and his scientific achievements.
Sechenov's childhood
The biography of Ivan Sechenov originates in a small village in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Then, back in 1829, it was called Teply Stan, today the birthplace of the scientist bears his name - Sechenovo.
On August 13, 1829, our hero was born in the family of Mikhail and Anisya Sechenov. As was customary then, many children were born in the family. So Mikhail Ivanovich Sechenov, whose biography is presented in the article, was the ninth child.
The father of the future genius was from a noble family, and Anisya Yegorovna was the daughter of serfs. The Yegorovs did not live richly, but amicably. There was enough bread for everyone, and nanny Nastasya helped the family in raising the children. It is her in his biography that Sechenov remembers with special warmth. Nanny knew a lot interesting tales and was very kind to the children.
In 1839, a tragedy happened in the biography of I. M. Sechenov - his father died. Life has become much more difficult. The older brothers took on the care of the household. Despite social status families, everyone worked in it - from young to old, but the money was becoming less and less. That is why Ivan was not sent to school. However, the boy received good schooling at home.
The older brothers noticed outstanding abilities Ivan and decided to study him at an engineering school. Until the age of fourteen, Sechenov's biography is connected with his home and his native village. His mother taught him natural sciences, grammar and mathematics. Ivan is the only one in the family who has learned foreign languages. Even then, an outstanding future was predicted for the young genius.
Education of the future genius
At the age of fourteen, Ivan Sechenov, whose brief biography you are familiar with, moved to St. Petersburg to study at the Main Engineering School. This institution had the status of a military university, all of its students took an oath.
The training lasted 6 years: four junior classes and two officers. Sechenov studied trigonometry, mathematics, drawing, analytical mechanics and even French literature at the school. But most of all he was fascinated by physics. A little later, chemistry was added to the number of favorite subjects.
At the same time, the teachers noted Sechenov's outstanding abilities in mathematics.
First achievements
In 1848, Ivan Sechenov graduated from the school with the rank of ensign and was sent to Kyiv. Here for two years he served in the second reserve sapper battalion. The future luminary of medicine understood that he did not feel much love for military affairs. Just at that time, in the biography of I. M. Sechenov, an acquaintance with the beautiful widow Olga Alexandrovna occurred. The lady was distinguished by her education and was in love with medicine.
In his biography, Sechenov briefly recalls this girl and her influence on his life:
I entered her house as a young man, floating so inertly along the channel into which fate had thrown me, without a clear consciousness of where it might lead me, and I left her house with a ready life plan, knowing where to go and what to do. Who, if not she, led me out of a situation that could become a dead loop for me, indicating the possibility of a way out. To what, if not her suggestions, I owe the fact that I went to the university - and precisely the one that she considered advanced! - to learn medicine and help others. It is possible, finally, that some of her influence was reflected in my later service to the interests of women who were making their way to an independent path.
In 1950, our hero entered the medical faculty of Moscow University and attended lectures as a free listener. The medical theory that was taught at the university quickly disappointed Sechenov, but he mastered biology to perfection. In addition to specialized lectures, Ivan Mikhailovich, who was eager to learn, listened to lectures on theology, philosophy, deontology, and history. Soon the range of his interests expanded. He became seriously interested in psychology and physiology.
Ivan Sechenov studied very willingly and diligently. He independently studied many times more than what the teachers asked. The professors noticed the outstanding abilities of Ivan Mikhailovich and suggested that he take a full course of training at the Faculty of Physiology and Anatomy. Such zeal and diligence allowed our hero to graduate from the university with honors and get a doctor's degree.
When our hero was in his fourth year, another tragedy happened in Sechenov's biography. His mother died. After her death, Ivan received a good inheritance and firmly decided to realize his mother's dream. Anisya Egorovna dreamed that her son would become an outstanding scientist and professor.
Moving abroad
In 1856, after graduating from the university, Ivan Sechenov left for Berlin, where he continued his studies. In Germany, a certified doctor studies specialized subjects for a year. During this time, he managed to work in the laboratories of such famous scientists as Ernst Weber, Johann Müller, K. Ludwig.
Then our hero went to Paris, where he worked in the laboratory of an outstanding endocrinologist. It was there that Sechenov made the discovery of the mechanisms that are present in the brain of a frog, which the scientist called the mechanisms of central inhibition.
A little later, he introduced the term "reflex" to society by publishing his work "Reflexes of the Brain".
By the way, with the beginning of labor activity and scientific work the scientist published many scientific articles and made a lot of important discoveries.
Homecoming and career flourishing
In 1860, Ivan Sechenov, whose biography we are considering, returned to St. Petersburg, where he received a doctorate in medical sciences. For ten years he worked at the Academy, then moved to the laboratory of his friend Mendeleev.
After 1871, Sechenov changed many laboratories and institutes. He worked as the head of the department of physiology in Odessa, was a professor at St. Petersburg University. And then he organized his own laboratory, in which he developed questions of physiology.
In 1889, Ivan Mikhailovich was awarded the title of president of the 1st International Psychological Congress, which was held in the capital of France. In the same year he became a Privatdozent at the University of Moscow.
In 1907, Ivan Sechenev officially retired with the rank of professor of physiology. Nevertheless, he continued to engage in scientific research and teach students for a long time.
Outstanding Achievements of a Scientist
This scientist is rightfully considered the father of Russian physiology. He owns many discoveries, including:
- Invention of the "blood pump" (used to study the effects of alcohol on the blood).
- Creation of the First domestic physiological laboratory.
- Great influence on the development of Darwin's theory and its dissemination in Russia.
- Sechenov's inhibition phenomenon.
It is thanks to Ivan Sechenov, whose brief biography is considered today, that physiology has emerged as a separate science, a clinical discipline.
Professor's personal life
Sechenov's wife was a young and ambitious girl, Maria Alexandrovna Bokova, whom he met after returning to Russia. Maria dreamed of doing scientific work in the field of medicine. In those days, it was almost impossible for a woman. Sechenov fought against discrimination against the beautiful half of humanity and helped his chosen one write and defend a dissertation. Subsequently, scientists have created a strong alliance.
His native village, streets, educational institutions are named after him.
After retiring, Ivan Sechenov lived for another four years. The luminary of medicine died in 1905, leaving behind many scientific works and discoveries.