And m Sechenov's contribution to the history of science. Biography. During his stay abroad, Sechenov struck up friendly relations with future outstanding scientists S. Botkin, D.I. Mendeleev, A.P. Borodin, which lasted all his life
The fate of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov, an outstanding scientist-physiologist, was not easy. In his biography, successes gave way to failures, however, at every stage of his life, the scientist invariably remained true to himself, to his ideals and principles. He tirelessly fought for the light of science and reason, for enlightenment, even if the censorship branded his works as "dangerous" and "undermining moral foundations." The rich scientific heritage of Ivan Mikhailovich is of interest to specialists from all over the world to this day.
Childhood and youth
Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov was born on August 13 (old style - 1st) 1829 in the village of Teply Stan, Kurmysh district, Simbirsk province. The scientist's father was a small-scale nobleman Mikhail Alekseevich Sechenov.
In the past, he served in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment, and after retiring, he settled in the estate with his wife and children. Among the neighbors, Mikhail Alekseevich was known as a black sheep - after a man married a peasant serf Anisya Yegorovna, the local nobility looked down on him.
The wife gave Sechenov 8 children, of which Ivan was the youngest. Until the age of 14, the boy never left his native village. He grew up in a predominantly female environment. The older brothers studied in the city, and there were no comrades of his age among their peers. The parents were going to send their son to the Kazan gymnasium, to the brothers, but because of the death of his father, the financial situation of the family was shaken. Therefore, Ivan studied at home, a village priest and a governess became his mentors.
In 1843, Sechenov Jr. went to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Main Engineering School. Within its walls, the young man mastered physics, chemistry, mathematics and other sciences. After completing his studies, in 1848, Ivan Mikhailovich was assigned to serve in the Kiev sapper battalion. However, the young man soon realized that the local way of life was not for him. He was abhorred by the cruelty of the military, the servility of the lower ranks to the elders. In 1850, Sechenov resigned.
Ivan Mikhailovich spent some time at home, in Teply Stan. And in the fall of the same 1850 he left for Moscow. In the capital, the young man became a volunteer at the medical faculty of Moscow University. In the summer of 1851, having become proficient in anatomy, botany and Latin, he passed the entrance exam and joined the ranks of students. At first, under the influence of Professor Fyodor Inozemtsev, he tended to surgery. However, already in his senior years, Sechenov made a choice in favor of physiology.
In 1856, the young man had to pass the final exams. Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Nikolai Anke suggested that the talented student take not ordinary, but doctoral exams. They, of course, were more difficult and obliged the graduate to write and defend a thesis. Sechenov agreed and soon passed his doctoral exams together with fellow students Eduard Junge and Pavel Einbrodt.
After that, Ivan Mikhailovich, perfectly realizing that he had only learned the basics at Moscow University, decided to go abroad. He renounced his father's inheritance and, having received 6 thousand rubles from the brothers. compensation, went to Germany. There, the young man attended lectures by Johann Müller, Emile Dubois-Reymond and other prominent physiologists. In addition, he worked in laboratories, studying chemistry and doing experiments. Sechenov presented the results of his research in a scientific article that made him a name in the circles of European physiologists.
Medicine and scientific activity
In 1860, Ivan Mikhailovich defended his doctoral dissertation. The theme sounded as follows: "Materials for the future physiology of alcohol intoxication." To understand the issue in detail, Sechenov independently designed a "blood pump", the action of which clearly showed how alcohol affects the absorption of oxygen by the blood.
Ivan Sechenov How alcohol is released from the body, what chemical processes it suppresses in tissues, how muscle and nervous activity changes under its influence - the physiologist comprehensively covered all these topics in his work.
At the invitation of Professor Ivan Glebov, Sechenov began work at the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. His lectures, full of facts and the latest scientific data, aroused keen interest from the audience. One of the merit of Ivan Mikhailovich is that he was the first to emphasize the relationship between the organism and the external environment - this idea was reflected in the article "On plant acts in animal life" (1861).
In addition to physiology, in his writings Sechenov dealt with the pressing problems of biology, medicine and other sciences. In 1862, while in Paris, Ivan Mikhailovich worked in the laboratory of the French physician Claude Bernard. Here one of his main discoveries took place: the scientist proved that human nervous activity consists of two incessant processes - irritable and inhibitory. This phenomenon is called "central (or Sechenov's) inhibition." Sechenov outlined the details of the discovery in a work that saw the light of day in 1963.
Returning from abroad, Ivan Mikhailovich published a printed lecture "On Animal Electricity" (1963). For this work, the physiologist was awarded the Demidov Prize. The subsequent "Reflexes of the Brain" (1963) became a kind of pinnacle of Sechenov's works. Two parts of this essay were published in No. 47 and No. 48 of the Medical Bulletin. A separate edition was published in 1966.
The book, which refuted previous views on human mental activity, caused a scandal. According to the censorship, Sechenov's work undermined the religious, moral and political foundations. The circulation of "Reflexes of the Brain" was arrested, and they tried to bring a lawsuit against the scientist. Ivan Mikhailovich reacted calmly to the persecution, saying that if the case goes to court, he will demonstrate his experience with the frog to the judges and prove his case.
The government had to drop the charges against Sechenov and release the essay for free circulation. However, until the end of his life, Ivan Mikhailovich remained "on the notice" of the tsarist government. His scientific research was subjected to rigorous study and, in addition to academic censorship, was referred to a higher censorship committee. In 1869, Sechenov recommended a professor at the Medical-Surgical Academy and, when he was blacklisted, resigned in protest.
Subsequently, Ivan Mikhailovich worked at Novorossiysk, St. Petersburg and Moscow universities. In 1891, at his home university, he took up the post of professor of the Department of Physiology. At the same time, the scientist did not stop conducting scientific work, setting up experiments.
He researched psychology, physiology of muscle activity and physiology of labor, physical chemistry of blood gases. In 1901, Sechenov resigned, retaining the right to use the physiological laboratory. A photograph of 1902 has survived, in which a physiologist was captured for an experiment in studying the rhythm of the work of the muscles of the arm.
Personal life
In 1848, while in Kiev, Ivan Mikhailovich became a frequent visitor to the house of a certain doctor. There he met the daughter of the owner of the house, a young widow Olga Alexandrovna. Sechenov remembered her as an extraordinary, well-read person, an intelligent and lively companion. Not surprisingly, the young man soon began to have romantic feelings for her. Ivan understood that his love was unlikely to be mutual, nevertheless he took the news of Olga Alexandrovna's new marriage painfully.
Sechenov later noted that this episode prompted him to retire and get a university education. It is interesting that Ivan Mikhailovich met his wife, advocating for the availability of female education in Russia. Back in 1861, Maria Aleksandrovna Bokova and her friend Nadezhda Prokofievna Suslova, as volunteers, attended the scientist's lectures at the Medical-Surgical Academy. Both women were about to take matriculation exams, and Sechenov willingly helped them with their preparation.
Maria was married. Both she herself and her husband Pyotr Ivanovich Bokov became close friends with the physiologist. Sechenov often stayed at their house. When both students passed the exams successfully, Ivan Mikhailovich became the guest of honor at the celebration organized in honor of the “graduates”.
In 1862, the scientist left for Paris, but his communication with Bokova and Suslova did not stop. Women sent him detailed reports on their scientific research, while Sechenov sent in response detailed analyzes of their mistakes and achievements.
Soon after Ivan Mikhailovich's return to Russia, it became clear that he and Maria were connected by a feeling much deeper and more cordial than simple friendship. Bokova's husband, a truly understanding and noble man, did not create obstacles for people who love each other. Moreover, when Sechenov and his chosen one were married in a civil marriage, Pyotr Ivanovich remained a sincere friend of their family.
In 1864, a law was passed prohibiting women from studying at the academy and engaging in scientific activities. Ivan Mikhailovich's students had to leave their studies. Wanting to continue their studies, Suslova and Bokova-Sechenova went to the University of Zurich (Switzerland). Returning to Russia, Maria took up medical practice, in addition, together with her husband, she translated a number of textbooks on medicine and physiology.
According to contemporaries, Sechenov was happy in his personal life. Their union with Mary was based not only on love, but also on a community of interests. The couple spent the summer months in Klepenino, a tiny village near Rzhev, which Bokova-Sechenova inherited from her parents. In a letter to Nadezhda Suslova, the physiologist's wife shared the details of their rural recreation: during the day they traveled around the surrounding forests and fields, spent their evenings reading.
Death
Sechenov died on November 15 (2), 1905. The cause of death was croupous pneumonia. Only the closest people saw off Ivan Mikhailovich on his last journey. They did not arrange a magnificent funeral for the professor, who made a colossal contribution to world science - such was the will of the deceased.
At first, his grave was located at the Vagankovsky cemetery, then the ashes were transferred to Novodevichy. In memory of the outstanding physiologist, a prize was established; a number of institutions (for example, the Moscow Medical Institute) and streets bear his name. And the native village of Ivan Mikhailovich, Teply Stan, is now called Sechenovo.
Proceedings
- 1861 - "On plant acts in animal life"
- 1863 - "On Animal Electricity"
- 1866 - "Reflexes of the Brain"
- 1879 - "Elements of Thought"
- 1888 - "On the absorption of CO2 by solutions of salts and strong acids"
- 1891 - "Physiology of the nerve centers"
- 1895 - "Physiological criteria for setting the length of the working day"
- 1896 - "Impression and Reality"
- 1901 - "An Outline of Human Labor Movements"
- 1902 - "Subject thought and reality"
I. M. Sechenov plays a significant role in the development of biology, psychology, anatomy, anthropology and a number of other sciences.
Childhood and youth
Ivan Sechenov was born into a poor family of landowners. He spent his childhood in the village of Teply Stan. The boy was raised by a nanny who instilled in him a love of literature. Since the family could not afford to send Ivan to study at school, he received his first lessons in elementary school at home. His mother, although she was a serf in the past, had great ambitions and wanted her beloved son to become a famous scientist in the future. Then no one could have imagined that these dreams were destined to come true, although not immediately.
In 1848, Sechenov graduated from a military engineering school in the Northern Capital, after which he voluntarily joined the army. After demobilization, he entered the Moscow State University, the Faculty of Medicine. The interests of Ivan Sechenov were so versatile that at the same time he was engaged in philosophy, history, cultural studies and psychology. Then the young and promising scientist, already showing promise at that time, turned his attention to physiology, which became the main business of his life.
After graduating from the Moscow University, Sechenov went to Europe to continue studying and gaining experience from foreign colleagues. In Germany, for his experiments, on the basis of an absorptiometer, he designed a unique apparatus - a "blood pump", which was later used by the young experimenter himself and other scientists from all over the world.
Scientific activity
In 1860 Sechenov returned from Europe and brought with him materials for the dissertation, which he began to write. In St. Petersburg, he founded on the basis of the surgical academy the first school of physiology in the dark, religious to the bone of Russia school of physiology. During the years of work at the academy, the scientist sets up experiments and tries to prove empirically that a person is controlled not by some higher power from the outside, but by his brain and nervous system. It was a challenge to the church and the concept of the soul, but the scientist saw his destiny in this and was not afraid of accusations of blasphemy.
Soon Sechenov makes an important discovery - he discovers certain parts of the brain, the so-called inhibitory centers, the impact on which inhibits motor activity. For his work on brain reflexes, Sechenov was persecuted by the authorities, he was credited with corrupting the people, carrying nihilistic views to the masses, and even accused him of indirectly participating in the attempt on Alexander II.
However, even general condemnation did not stop the scientist. He works and publishes works on the physiology of the nervous system, and then the sense organs. Sechenov made a revolution not only in physiology, but also in psychology. He refuted stereotypes preached for centuries and proved that a person is driven by objective psychological activity, and not some higher consciousness.
In 1870, Sechenov left the academy and became the head of the Faculty of Physiology at the Imperial University. He also lectured at various educational institutions, worked on his scientific works and devoted a lot of time to experiments.
His main merit is proof of the reflex nature of nervous activity. The scientist experimentally proved that all mental activity depends on objective physiological prerequisites. Sechenov investigated the neuromuscular activity of a frog when exposed to currents of a certain strength and frequency. As a result of these experiments, he made a conclusion about the properties of nerve centers and the phenomenon of summation of stimuli. Later, Sechenov's reflex theory was confirmed and developed by Pavlov, who continued the work of his teacher.
Sechenov's contribution to the development of science is difficult to describe and evaluate in words. He made a revolutionary revolution, which marked the beginning of the further development of medicine.
Since 1955, the Moscow Medical Academy has been named after this scientist.
| Famous doctors of all time | ||
|---|---|---|
| Austrian | Adler Alfred Auenbrugger Leopold Breuer Joseph Van Swieten Gaen Antonius Selye Hans Freud Sigmund | |
| Antique | Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) Asclepius Galen Herophilus Hippocrates | |
| British | Brown John Harvey William Jenner Edward Lister Joseph Sydenham Thomas | |
| Italian | Cardano Gerolamo Lombroso Cesare | |
| German | Billroth Christian Virchow Rudolf Wundt Wilhelm Hahnemann Samuel Helmholtz Hermann Griesinger Wilhelm Grafenberg Ernst Koch Robert Kraepelin Emil Pettenkofer Max Erlich Paul Esmarch Johann | |
| Russian | Amosov N.M. Bakulev A.N. Bekhterev V.M. Botkin S.P. Burdenko N.N. Danilevsky V.Ya. Zakharyin G.A. Kandinsky V.Kh. Korsakov S.S. I. I. Mechnikov Mudrov M.Ya. Pavlov I.P. Pirogov N.I. Semashko N.A. Serbian V.P. Sechenov I.M. | |
Sechenov Ivan Mikhailovich is a famous Russian physiologist, biologist and chemist. Over the years of his activity, he managed to make a significant contribution to the development of many scientific areas, including psychology, journalism and even anthropology. Many consider Ivan Mikhailovich one of the founders of the modern literary Russian language.
Sechenov's childhood
Sechenov I.M. was born on August 13, 1829 in the village of Teply Stan, which today is called the village of Sechenovo and is located in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
His father, Mikhail Alekseevich Sechenov, was a landowner and nobleman, and his mother was Anisya Yegorovna, his father's former serf. Ivan himself, recalling his family already in adulthood, admitted that he loved his nanny Nastasya most of all, who took care of him, protected, pampered and knew many interesting fairy tales.
The Sechenov family, despite their social status, experienced certain difficulties with money, because of which young Ivan had to receive only a home education, which in no way prevented him from achieving great success in the future in various areas of activity.
Literacy, mathematics and natural sciences, he was taught by his mother, who was fluent in Russian and living foreign languages, and dreamed of how one day her son would become a professor.
Youth and first successes
In 1848 Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov graduated from the Main Engineering School. Unfortunately, he did not manage to get into the upper officer class, and from the school he was released with the rank of ensign. It did not work for the young Sechenov to get into the active army in the Caucasus, and he served in the second reserve engineer battalion.
Two years later, he retired and entered the medical faculty of Moscow University as a volunteer. In addition to medical lectures, he also attended others, thanks to which he very quickly began to understand cultural studies, theology, philosophy, deontology, medieval and ancient medicine, and history. In the third year, his sphere of interest was expanded by psychology and physics.
Under the influence of A.I. Polunin, who was then the head of the Department of Pathological Anatomy and Physiology, as well as F.I. Inozemtsev. and Glebova I.T., Sechenov also became interested in physiology. At the insistence of the dean, he completed a full course of study, passed all the required exams and received his degree in medicine with honors.
In the 4th year of study, Ivan Mikhailovich had a chance to survive the death of his mother. In memory of her, Sechenov, after passing the exams, went abroad with the money he inherited. He wanted to professionally engage in physiology and, thanks to his perseverance and determination, in the future was able to make a significant contribution to this medical field.
Career heyday
After his move abroad in 1856, Sechenov worked in the laboratories of many famous scientists, such as F. Hoppe-Seiler, Ernst Weber, Johann Müller, K. Ludwig, and many others.
He also managed to get to know and make friends with A.N.Beketov, D.I. Mendeleev, S.P. Botkin, A.P. Borodin, N.V. Gogol. With many of them he worked on joint projects or provided them with all possible assistance, as was the case with A. Ivanov, with whom they worked together on the painting "The Appearance of Christ to the People."
Sechenov's lectures on "Animal Electricity", which he read at the Medical-Surgical Academy, amazed not only scientists from his circle, but also people who were far from medicine, such as N.G. Chernyshevsky. and Turgenev I.S. Over the years, he managed to work in Paris in the laboratory of Claude Bernard, who became famous in the field of endocrinology.
In 1867, he began to actively promote the doctrine of self-regulation and feedback, as well as theories about cybernetics and automatic control. At the same time, he had to urgently go on vacation in Graz, to his Viennese friend and physiologist Alexander Rollet. This was due to the fact that the academician of the Medical-Surgical Academy applied to the Senate with a request to exile Sechenov to a monastery for harmful and soul-destroying teachings.
Ivan Mikhailovich also actively fought for women's rights and in 1870, in protest against female discrimination, left the academy, after which he worked in the chemical laboratory of Mendeleev and, at the same time, lectured at the artists' club.
From 1871 to 1888, he managed to change his place of work several times: first he headed the Department of Physiology at Novorossiysk Universities of Odessa, then he was a professor of the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Histology of the Department of Zoology of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of St. Petersburg University, where he even organized a separate physiological laboratory.
In 1889, Sechenov became president of the first International Congress of Psychology in Paris, and also received the title of assistant professor at Moscow University. Two years later, he won the title of professor of physiology. In 1901, he officially retired, while continuing his research and teaching activities.
Outstanding Achievements
Over the years of his work and research, Sechenov has done many very important things that have forever remained in history, among them:
- - It was Sechenov who designed the "blood pump" needed to study the effect of alcohol on blood gases.
- - He was the first who wrote and defended his doctoral dissertation in Russian on the topic "Materials for the future physiology of alcoholic intoxication", in 1860 at the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg.
- - Sechenov organized the first physiological laboratory in Russia at the Medical-Surgical Academy of St. Petersburg.
- - It was Sechenov who spread Darwinism in Russia and even brought the world's first physicochemical and evolutionary theories, as well as the application of the ideas of Darwinism to the problems of psychology and physiology.
- - He discovered the phenomenon of central inhibition, which was eventually called Sechenov inhibition, and spontaneous oscillations of biocurrents in the medulla oblongata.
- - Sechenov turned physiology into an exact science and clinical discipline, which allowed medicine to take a significant step forward.
Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov (August 1, 1829 - November 2, 1905) - an outstanding Russian physiologist, encyclopedic scientist, psychologist, pathologist, anatomist, histologist, toxicologist, culturologist, anthropologist, naturalist, chemist, physicist-chemist, physicist, biochemist, evolutionist, instrument-maker , military engineer, teacher, publicist, humanist, educator, philosopher and rationalist thinker, creator of the physiological school; honored ordinary professor, corresponding member in biological category (1869-1904), honorary member (1904) of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Chevalier of the Orders of St. Stanislaus I degree, St. Anna III degree, St. Vladimir Equal to the Apostles III degree
Biography
Born on August 13, 1829 in the landlord family of the nobleman Mikhail Alekseevich Sechenov and his former serf Anisya Georgievna ("Egorovna") in the village of Teply Stan, Kurmyshsky district, Simbirsk province (now the village of Sechenovo, Nizhny Novgorod region). “As a child,” he later recalled, “more than my father and mother, I loved my lovely nanny. Nastasya Yakovlevna caressed me, took me for a walk, saved delicacies for me from dinner, took my side in wrangling with the sisters and captivated me most of all with fairy tales, to which she was a great craftswoman. " Due to a lack of funds in a large family, he received only a home primary education under the guidance of a literate at the monastery for the first time at the behest of the owner, just before marriage, but an intelligent and active mother who considered mathematics, natural sciences, fluency in Russian and living foreign languages fluent, and dreamed of so that her, "one of the millions of slaves", her son became a professor.
Graduated from the Main Engineering School in 1848. He was not enrolled in the upper officer class, therefore he could not "go to the academic unit." He was released with the rank of ensign. IM Sechenov's request to enroll him in the active army in the Caucasus was not satisfied, he was sent to the second reserve engineer battalion.
Two years later, Second Lieutenant Sechenov retired and entered the medical faculty of Moscow University as a volunteer. At the university, in addition to studying medicine, he also listened to lectures by T.N. Granovsky and especially P.N. Kudryavtsev, which helped him become an expert in the field of cultural studies, pedagogy, philosophy, theology, deontology, ancient and medieval medicine, history in general. All his life he called any scientific device, considering it, first of all, an object of material culture "history". In his third year, he became interested in psychology, which was then considered a section of theology (in Orthodoxy), theology (in other denominations) and philosophy, and this, in his words, "Moscow passion for philosophy" subsequently played an important role in his work. It is curious that the physics course was read by Professor M.F. Spassky, and even though Sechenov himself considered this course elementary and according to Lenz's textbook, in our time Sechenov was considered as a student and follower of M.F.Sassky, although I.M.Sechenov, and M.F. Spassky were students of M.V. Ostrogradsky. The most decided to devote himself to private and general pathology (anatomy and physiology) Sechenov, already before studying at the university received a solid engineering and physical and mathematical education, listened to the lectures of a formally tough opponent of clinical (that is, on patients) experiments, the head of the department of pathological anatomy and pathological physiology The "medical star" Alexei Ivanovich Polunin was infected with the interest in topographic anatomy by the "most handsome professor" F. I. Inozemtsev, under whose leadership he began his scientific career while still studying, and in comparative anatomy and physiology - Ivan Timofeevich Glebov. Sechenov began to dream of physiology, especially since in his senior years he became disillusioned with the empirical, not based on scientific general pathology, experimental medical practice of that time, "learning from patients", which even Polunin considered natural, and, having solid engineering and physical -mathematical education, felt that he could read physiology better than the beloved lecturer of I.M.Sechenov, I.T. After graduating, at the insistence of Dean NB Anke, a full course of study with the right to receive a doctorate degree, Sechenov passed doctoral examinations instead of medicinal ones and received a doctor's degree with honors. When he was in his 4th year, his mother died suddenly, and he decided to use the inheritance he received to fulfill his mother's dream. After successfully passing the exams in 1856, Sechenov went abroad at his own expense to study physiology. In 1856-1859 he worked in the laboratories of Johann Müller, E. Dubois-Reymond, F. Hoppe-Seiler in Berlin, Ernst Weber, O. Funke in Leipzig, K. Ludwig, with whom he had a particularly close friendship, in Vienna, according to Ludwig's recommendations - Robert Bunsen, Hermann Helmholtz in Heidelberg. In Berlin he attended courses in physics of Magnus and analytical chemistry to Rose. To study the effect of alcohol on blood gases, Sechenov designed a new device - a "blood pump", which was highly appreciated by Ludwig and all modern scientists, and which was subsequently used by many physiologists. (The original Sechenov's "blood pump" in working order is kept in the museum of the Department of General Physiology of St. Petersburg University). Abroad, he was friends with A. N. Beketov, S. P. Botkin, D. I. Mendeleev, A. P. Borodin, the artist A. Ivanov, who was assisted in the painting "The Appearance of Christ to the People." Perhaps it was under the influence of the views of Ivanov and his friend N.V. Gogol that I.M.Sechenov's determination to use the methods of natural science to confirm the teaching of the Russian Orthodox Church about the bodily, in view of the unity of soul and body, which he proved, and the resurrection at the second coming of Christ, was strengthened.
Abroad, Sechenov not only dispelled the notions that existed even among the best German scientists about the “inability of the round-headed Russian race” to understand modern physiology, but also prepared his doctoral dissertation “Materials for the future physiology of alcohol intoxication,” one of the first in Russian, which he successfully defended. in 1860 at the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg, where by that time he had been transferred by vice-president I. T. Glebov. In the same year, at the invitation of I. T. Glebov, he began to work at the Department of Physiology of this Academy, where he soon organized a physiological laboratory - one of the first in Russia. For the course of lectures "On Animal Electricity" that amazed his contemporaries at the Medical-Surgical Academy - even such people far from medicine as I. S. Turgenev and N. G. Chernyshevsky attended it - he was awarded the Demidov Prize of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. At the beginning of 1862 he took part in the work of the Free University, then worked in Paris in the laboratory of the "father of endocrinology" Claude Bernard, this leave was possibly connected with the arrests among the people of his circle on the cases of the proclamations "Great Russia" and ". In his classic work "Physiology of the Nervous System" in 1866, he formulated in detail his doctrine of self-regulation and feedbacks, further developed by the theory of automatic control and cybernetics, Sechenov investigated the same problems during a year's leave in 1867 - officially regarding the treatment of skin allergies , possibly related to the appeal to the Senate of the academician of the Medical-Surgical Academy Isidor with a request to exile Sechenov "for humility and correction" to the Solovetsky Monastery "for a prejudicial soul-destroying and harmful teaching." He spent most of this vacation in Graz, in the laboratory of his Viennese friend, physiologist and histologist, Professor Alexander Rollet (1834-1903). While working at the Academy, he took part in the organization of a research marine biological station in Sevastopol (now the A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine).
After leaving the academy in 1870 in protest against the "discrimination against women" and the ballot of the I. I. Mechnikov and A. E. Golubev recommended by him, he worked in the chemical laboratory of D. I. Mendeleev at St. Petersburg University and lectured at the Artists' Club. In 1871-1876 he headed the Department of Physiology at the Novorossiysk University in Odessa. In 1876-1888 he was a professor at the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Physiology of the Department of Zoology, Physics and Mathematics Faculty of St. Petersburg University, where in 1888 he also organized a separate physiological laboratory. At the same time, he lectured at the Bestuzhev Higher Courses for Women, of which he was one of the founders. Later he taught at women's courses at the society of teachers and educators in Moscow. At first, under the influence of Charcot's ideas, he mistakenly believed that I.M.Sechenov's foresight, brilliant for centuries ahead of the level of development of science of his time, was explained by a state of passion, but then he himself objected to the falsification of I.M.Sechenov's biography, Nobel Prize laureate I.P. Pavlov considered it is impossible to understand it correctly without knowing what is described in "What to do?" events anticipated the novel by I.M.Sechenov. It should be noted that although N. G. Chernyshevsky wrote about eight prototypes, including two women, the main prototype of Rakhmetov's "special person" was indeed I. M. Sechenov's brother-in-law, a political prisoner, an exiled settler, in the future - a prominent military leader of tsarist Russia , retired lieutenant general, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Obruchev. But contrary to popular belief, despite the support of the women's movement, the friendship of families and the cooperation of educators N. G. Chernyshevsky and I. M. Sechenov and the similarity of the biographies of the hero of the novel "What is to be done?" doctors Kirsanov and I.M.Sechenov, Vera Pavlovna and the wife of I.M.Sechenov, who studied with him with N.P. Suslova, later doctor of medicine, surgery and obstetrics, ophthalmologist Maria Alexandrovna Bokova (nee Obrucheva, daughter of Lieutenant General Alexander Afanasyevich Obruchev), the novel was not based on real events in the life of I.M.Sechenov. As a subtle esthete, theatergoer (a close acquaintance of I. M. Sechenov, playwright A. N. Ostrovsky even wrote the work "Actors according to Sechenov", in which he anticipated some of Stanislavsky's discoveries), a lover of Italian opera, music lover and musician who supported Ivanov, Antonina Nezhdanova, ME Pyatnitsky, he could not share the aesthetic theory of Chernyshevsky and could not be the prototype of the hero of the novel "Fathers and Sons" by Bazarov. Rather, N. G. Chernyshevsky could consider him the prototype of Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, and then N. G. Chernyshevsky's choice of the surname of the hero Alexander Kirsanov in the novel, which he considered an answer to "Fathers and Sons" by I. S. Turgenev, is understandable. I.M.Sechenov, as the creator of his own harmonious philosophy, could not share the metaphysics of Chernyshevsky. Opponent of any medical and social experiments on humans, I. M. Sechenov “like any great scientist, was a dissenter” (a quote from a letter from his relative, academician P. L. Kapitsa) from the point of view of the bureaucracy, liberals and “nihilists”. In 1887, by a decision of the Tver Diocesan Court, the marriage of Mary and Peter Bokov was dissolved, after which I.M.Sechenov and M.A.Bokova sealed their old de facto union with the sacrament of wedding. They turned the family estate of the Obruchevs Klepenino into an exemplary estate in Russia. Sechenov is not only the grandfather of Russian cybernetics, but also the great-uncle of the famous scientist in the field of cybernetics, computing technology, mathematical linguistics, the successor of I.M.Sechenov's research and teaching activities in the field of theoretical, mathematical and cybernetic biology, including the endocrine system, A. A. Lyapunov, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences. A. A. Lyapunov actively participated in the struggle against the official biographies of Sechenov, largely based on the official biographies of Sechenov, which are largely based on the life and works of I. M. Sechenov (that is, in essence, anti-Darwinism, which claims that the example of plants and animals can be proved: all the acquired qualities of both the leaders of the party and the state, as well as the exploiters and enemies of the people, are inherited by all descendants, regardless of their upbringing and lifestyle, even if “the son is not responsible for the father”), which has nothing to do with I.P. Pavlov's "Pavlovian physiology", "Soviet nervousism", "the creation of a new man (in the camps)", which has nothing to do with IV Michurin "Michurin biology", occult teleology and vitalism, called "materialism" in the USSR and attributed to I. M. Sechenov and I. P. Pavlov. Sechenov's teaching on the connection of ethics with the development of the national economy, formulated long before Max Weber's "Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism" ideal of a knight or a lady, has nothing to do with the "Order of the Swordsmen" and the "creation of a new man" in the interpretation of Stalin. Even during the life of I.M.Sechenov, who considered his works as a phenomenon of the Russian literature adored by him, just as the French consider Buffon one of the creators of the literary language, M.E.Saltykov-Shchedrin considered the most striking evidence of the decline in the mental level of attempts to somehow reflect clear filigree formulations of such an unsurpassed master of words as I.M.Sechenov, even by means of music. But the official biographers of Sechenov in the USSR reformulated the essence of Sechenov's works in the standard vein of propaganda newspaper clichés of the 50s of the twentieth century and attributed all his successes to "the party leadership of his scientific work", ignoring his friendship with A. A. Grigoriev, I. S. Turgenev , V.O. Klyuchevsky, D.V. Grigorovich, F.M.Dostoevsky, the Botkin family, including Karl Marx's friend V.P. Botkin - and they, and I.M.Sechenov, were never Marxists ( that is, supporters of the all-encompassing irrational "dialectical materialism" of I. Dietzgen, which is fundamentally different from the rationalist "materialist dialectics" of Marx himself). Therefore, the biographers of I.M.Sechenov, in order to organize repressions against the academician's numerous relatives, I.M.Sechenov, who always doubted the reliability of the "materialistic biographies", published the sensational articles "Semantic idealism - the philosophy of imperialist reaction" serves cybernetics ", declaring cybernetics a pseudoscience, and the scientific method of I. M. Sechenov -" mechanicism turning into idealism. " I.M.Sechenov, who received a solid engineering and physical and mathematical education and effectively applied it in his scientific and pedagogical activities, of course, also used the approach that was later called cybernetics. He himself prepared, although not published, a course in higher mathematics. According to Academician A. N. Krylov, of all biologists, only Helmholtz, who is also known as a great mathematician, could know mathematics no worse than Sechenov. A. F. Samoilov, a student of Sechenov, recalled: “It seems to me that the appearance of Helmholtz - a physiologist, physiologist-philosopher, and the appearance of I. M. the position of a sober natural scientist in areas where speculation of philosophers prevailed until then. I.M.Sechenov - President of the I International Congress of Psychology in Paris in 1889.
From 1889 - assistant professor, from 1891 - professor of physiology at Moscow University. In 1901 he retired, but continued his experimental work, as well as teaching at the Prechistensky courses for workers in 1903-1904. His friend, colleague and historian of science K. A. Timiryazev summed up: “Hardly any of the physiologists of his day ... had such a wide scope in the field of his own research, from purely physical research in the field of gas dissolution to research in the field of nervous physiology and strictly scientific psychology ... If we add to this the brilliant, remarkably simple, clear form in which he clothed his thoughts, then the broad influence that he had on Russian science, on Russian thought, even far beyond the bounds of his audience and his specialty, becomes clear. "
The works of the scientist
List of Sechenov's publications
"Reflexes of the Brain" - 1866
"Physiology of the Nervous System" - 1866
"Elements of Thought" - 1879
"On the absorption of CO2 by solutions of salts and strong acids" - 1888
"Physiology of Nerve Centers" - 1891
"On the alkalis of blood and lymph" - 1893
"Physiological criteria for setting the length of the working day" - 1895
"A device for the rapid and accurate analysis of gases" - 1896
"Portable breathing apparatus" - 1900, together with M. N. Shaternikov.
"Sketch of the Labor Movements of Man" 1901
"Subject thought and reality" - 1902
"Autobiographical Notes" - 1904
Development of physiology
Sechenov discovered several new knowledge. The final formation of Sechenov's physiological school dates back to 1863-1868. For a number of years he and his students studied the physiology of intercentral relations. The most significant results of these studies were published in his work "Physiology of the Nervous System" (1866).
Sechenov translated a lot, edited translations of books by foreign scientists in the field of physiology, physics, medicinal chemistry, biology, history of science, pathology, and he radically revised works on physiology and pathology and supplemented the results of his own research. For example, in 1867 Ivan Mikhailovich's manual "Physiology of the Senses" was published. Alteration of the composition "Anatomie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane" von A. Fick. 1862-1864. Sight ", and in 1871-1872, under his editorship in Russia, a translation of Charles Darwin's work" The Descent of Man "was published. The merit of I.M.Sechenov is 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 that he carried out for the first time in the world and the application of ideas Darwinism to the problems of physiology and psychology. IM Sechenov can rightfully be considered the predecessor of the modern development of 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 Medical-Surgical Academy, Novorossiysk, 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 largely predetermined Sechenov's success on the path of creating his own scientific school.
The physiological laboratory organized by the scientist at the Medical-Surgical Academy was the center of research in the field of not only physiology, but also pharmacology, toxicology and clinical medicine.
In the fall of 1889, at Moscow University, the scientist gave a course of lectures on physiology, which became the basis for the generalizing work Physiology of Nerve Centers (1891). In this work, an analysis of various nervous phenomena was carried out - from unconscious reactions in spinal animals to the highest 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 - "An Outline of Human Working Movements." The work "Scientific Activity of Russian Universities in Natural Science in the Last 25 Years", written and published in 1883, is also of considerable interest.
The founder of the Russian physiological school, the ancestor of the era of objective psychology, one of the most prominent figures in Russian medicine.
Nobleman by birth, Ivan Sechenov was born in 1829 in the family of a former military man. Being not wealthy, his parents could only give him primary schooling at home. Studied with him, mainly, his mother, who mastered reading and writing in a monastery before marriage. When the time came for Ivan to receive further education, his father died. In Ivan's family, 8 children grew up, of whom five had already become independent by that time. The rest, including Ivan, were minors. In view of the deteriorating financial situation of the family, it was decided to send Ivan to the Main Engineering School. The tuition fee was comparatively small, and the profession was promising. After graduating from it, Sechenov did not see service as his life's work and did not pursue a military career, but entered the medical faculty of Moscow University as a volunteer. In addition to lectures on medicine, he attended a course in culturology, history, philosophy, theology and other disciplines for general development. And although the orders at the university were strict in a military manner, Ivan Sechenov showed himself to be an exemplary and promising student.
As a person who received his first education in mathematical sciences, Ivan Sechenov gravitated towards accuracy in medicine. Not being satisfied with the empiricism of the then medical science, he began to develop in the field of physiology and scientific pathology. Instead of taking medicine examinations, he passed more difficult doctoral examinations and received his degree in medicine with honors. Russian medicine at that time lagged far behind Western, in particular, European. Therefore, after the death of his mother, Sechenov decided to go abroad to study physiology at the expense of the inherited inheritance.
In Germany, Austria, he studied with the best professors, famous doctors, in particular, with... For several years, Sechenov worked in the best laboratories in Europe. Abroad, he met with outstanding Russian talents - Botkin, Mendeleev, artists Alexander Ivanov, who is assisted in his work on the canvas "The Appearance of Christ to the People." The fruit of a comprehensive study and practice abroad was a doctoral dissertation researching the physiology of intoxication. Sechenov performed many experiments on himself. In 1860 he returned to St. Petersburg to defend his dissertation.
Becoming a professor at the St. Petersburg Medical Academy, Sechenov attracted with his lectures many not only medical students, but also people far from medicine. For example, Chernyshevsky and Turgenev attended his lectures on "animal electricity". Sechenov's lectures were so impressive that they were even published in the Military Medical Journal. Then these lectures were awarded the highest award of the Academy of Sciences, and Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences.
After 2 years, Sechenov left for Paris to work in the laboratory of Claude Bernard, the founder of endocrinology, a famous French researcher of internal secretion processes. The discovery made during this year's scientific leave was the identification of the process of central inhibition that occurs in the brain. The article "Reflexes of the Brain", published in the journal "Medical Bulletin" in 1863, was devoted to the description of this phenomenon. The article explained the mental behavior of a person in connection with external stimuli, and not a mysterious soul. Sechenov connected the reaction of the nervous system with reflexes, which he classified as simple and complex.
Physiologist Shaternikov, a colleague of Sechenov's, described the article as making "an amazing impression ... on all thinking society." And Pavlov, who considered the work the pinnacle of Sechenov's scientific work, called it "a brilliant wave of Sechenov's thought." The essence of the discovery was reduced to the ability of the brain to delay or inhibit excitation. This phenomenon came to be called "Sechenov's inhibition." Sechenov conducted an experiment with a dog, which restricted access to smells, sounds and visual stimuli, as a result of which the dog was constantly sleeping.
The discovery in the field of psychology, which at that time was the diocese of religion, attracted the attention of the authorities and the church to the scientist. The censor of Sechenov's work wrote to the leadership: "... undermines religious beliefs and moral and political principles." His scientific publications began to be banned, and the clergy proposed to exile him for "pacification and pacification" in the Solovetsky Monastery. Worried about the fate of a world-renowned scientist, friends offered him lawyers who would best represent his interests in court. Sechenov wondered: “Why do I need lawyers? I will bring a frog with me and show the prosecutor all my experiments. Let him refute me. " The government did not dare to incur the shame of the world community and, in the end, allowed the printing of the work. However, the authorities remained distrustful of the political reliability of the outstanding Russian scientist for life.
One of the central works of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov is Physiology of the Nervous System, published in 1866. In this work, the scientist proves the ability of human sensory systems to self-regulation and the existence of feedbacks between muscles and the reaction of the central nervous systems to the signals they send.
Sechenov actively advocated the equality of women and advocated for women's education. He allowed women to his lectures, at one time he even supervised their scientific work and psychophysiological research. Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov taught at women's courses in Moscow, and participated in the organization of the Higher Women's Courses. However, society was not ready to grant women the same rights as men. Sechenov strongly opposed gender discrimination. In 1870, another story happened, which was the last straw before the scientist's retirement. He recommended the outstanding scientists I. I. Mechnikov and A. E. Golubev as professor at the Academy of Sciences. However, they were blackballed. With his resignation, Sechenov protested against discrimination against women and out-of-the-box worthy scientists.
Sechenov went to St. Petersburg University to work in the chemical laboratory of D. I. Mendeleev, with whom they had been friends since their studies abroad. Then, from 1871 to 1876, he headed the Department of Physiology at Odessa University. In the next five years, he returned to St. Petersburg to the Department of Physiology at the University. In parallel, the scientist taught at Moscow University, first as an associate professor, and then, since 1891, as a professor.
In the last two decades of his life, Secheno worked on a topic that does not seem so serious to the uninitiated - the respiratory function of the blood. In St. Petersburg, he basically completed his work related to gas exchange in the human body, laying the foundation for a whole direction in science. When in 1875 three daredevils soared into the air on the Zenith balloon, nothing foreshadowed a tragic death. Having risen in the air for 8 kilometers, two of them died from suffocation. At the congress of naturalists in 1879, Sechenov made a report in which he scientifically substantiated the cause of the death of two balloonists.
Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov was a talented scientist, had progressive views and advanced opinions. The authorities did not like his independence and independence of judgment, so at the end of his life the scientist had to leave for Leipzig to engage in research work, which he was deprived of in Russia. So for three years he worked abroad, and at home he only lectured. In 1891 he was invited to return to take the place of the late professor of physiology at Moscow University.
Without abandoning research on gas exchange, Sechenov designed several remarkable devices, in particular, a portable breathing apparatus, and continued to study neuromuscular physiology. In 1891, his main work was published, summarizing the main research and discoveries "Physiology of nerve centers", highly appreciated both in Russia and abroad. After 10 years, Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov retired and stopped teaching even in private courses. In 1901, his work "An Outline of the Workers' Movements of Man" was published, and three years later - "Subject Thought and Reality". In 1905, an outstanding Russian scientist passed away. His grave is in the Novodevichy Convent.
The works of I.M.Sechenov widely cover the most diverse spheres of science and life. His discoveries influenced psychology, medicine, natural science. Some of his studies formed the basis for developments in the gas transmission area and oil and gas production. The ideas of the great Russian scientist are still recognized as relevant in human rights movements, trade union associations, women's and workers' movements.
