The Life and Times of Ivan Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born on September 14th, 1849 in Ryazan Russia to Petr Pavlov, a priest, and Varvara Pavlov, a priest’s daughter (Windholz, 1997). Ivan was the eldest son of Petr and Varvara’s eleven children, which instilled a strong sense of responsibility and drive in Ivan very early on guiding him for the rest of his life (Schultz & Schultz, 2012). Even with his strong work ethic and drive, Ivan was unable to attend formal schooling until he was eleven years old due to a severe head injury that he attained when he was a child (Schultz & Schultz, 2012). This did not hold him back for long though; soon he began schooling at the Ryazan Ecclesiastical Seminary in order to become a priest like his father and the many fathers in the
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It took Pavlov until 1883 to complete his dissertation, which he wrote on the functioning of the nerves in the heart (Todes, 2014). Clearly, Pavlov interests were still focused mainly in physiology—not in psychology—at this point in his life. After completing his dissertation, Pavlov decided to travel to Germany where he would work alongside Carl Ludwig on his research on the circulatory system and alongside Rudolf Heidenham on his research on the digestive system (Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, 2015). Gaining this experience, and also learning how to complete several intricate surgical procedures, inspired him to proceed with his main physiological interest—the secretory activity of the digestive system. In 1890, Pavlov was back in St. Petersburg doing his research when he was appointed as the professor of pharmacology at the Military-Medical Academy. Five years later, he was promoted to the professor of physiology (Windholz, 1997). His book Lectures on The Work of the Digestive Glands was published in 1897 and earned him a Nobel Prize in 1904 (Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, 2015; Todes,
It took Pavlov until 1883 to complete his dissertation, which he wrote on the functioning of the nerves in the heart (Todes, 2014). Clearly, Pavlov interests were still focused mainly in physiology—not in psychology—at this point in his life. After completing his dissertation, Pavlov decided to travel to Germany where he would work alongside Carl Ludwig on his research on the circulatory system and alongside Rudolf Heidenham on his research on the digestive system (Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, 2015). Gaining this experience, and also learning how to complete several intricate surgical procedures, inspired him to proceed with his main physiological interest—the secretory activity of the digestive system. In 1890, Pavlov was back in St. Petersburg doing his research when he was appointed as the professor of pharmacology at the Military-Medical Academy. Five years later, he was promoted to the professor of physiology (Windholz, 1997). His book Lectures on The Work of the Digestive Glands was published in 1897 and earned him a Nobel Prize in 1904 (Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, 2015; Todes,