Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov was an outstanding scientist, psychologist, physician, biologist, physicist and professor emeritus. Sechenov's biography is inextricably linked with constant learning, self-development and science. It is not for nothing that they call him 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 of knowledge lead to? Next, a brief biography of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov.
Childhood and youth
Biography of Ivan Sechenov began in the village of Teply Stan of the Nizhny Novgorod region (now it is the village of Sechenov). In 1829, on August 13, the ninth child is born in the Sechenovs' noble family. Ivan almost did not remember his father, he was only 10 years old when he died. However, it was the father who inspired 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 give to an engineering school. That is why he lived in the village until the age of 14, studying at home, and the only one of all to learn foreign languages. Further, Sechenov's biography will be associated with continuing education.
From the memoirs of Ivan Sechenov:
The boy I was very ugly, black, curly and badly mutilated by smallpox, but I must have been not stupid, very cheerful and possessed the skill to imitate gait and voices, which often amused my family and friends. Peers over the years of the boys were neither in the families of acquaintances, nor in the yard; I grew up all my life between women; therefore, I had neither boyish ways nor contempt for the female sex; moreover, he was taught the rules of courtesy. On all these grounds, I enjoyed the love of the family and the goodwill of friends, not excluding the ladies and young ladies.
Let's consider how Sechenov’s life developed further.
Education
At the age of 14, Ivan Mikhailovich enters the school of military engineers and leaves for St. Petersburg. The school had 4 junior classes, where the training lasted 4 years, and 2 officer classes, which fell after. The institution supported a military regime: rise at 5 in the morning, study from 7 o’clock and drill training. The boys also took the 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 training, was fortification (military engineering science about strengthening the terrain for warfare.) However, Sechenov's engineering sciences were not carried away, even then he passionately loved one subject - physics, where he made great strides. In high school, the boy showed interest in chemistry. As Ivan Mikhailovich himself admits in his memoirs:
I was given mathematics, and if I got from an engineering school directly to a university at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, a decent physicist could come out of me, but fate, as we shall see, decided otherwise.
After graduating from an engineering school in 1848, Sechenov was assigned to Kiev, in the 2nd reserve combat engineer battalion, as a non-commissioned officer. Two years later, the newly-born officer resigns, with the firm intention of going to study medicine. This step was prompted by his acquaintance with a young widow Olga Alexandrovna, a girl with a very educated and enthusiastic medicine. As Sechenov himself recalls an episode of his biography:
I entered her house as a young man who was swimming so inertly along the channel into which fate had thrown me, without a clear consciousness of where it could lead me, and I left my house with a ready life plan, knowing where to go and what to do. Who, if not she, led me out of a position that could become a dead loop for me, indicating the possibility of an exit. To what, if not to her suggestions, I owe that I went to the university - and it is precisely the one that she considered advanced! - to study medicine and help someone else. It is possible, finally, that a certain part of her influence was reflected in my later service to the interests of women who made their way onto an independent path.
With this intention, in 1850 Sechenov entered the Moscow Medical University. He is waiting for 6 years of interesting training, 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, philosophy entails him. Sechenov studied very willingly, which eventually allowed him to graduate from the top three students. After medical university in 1856, Ivan Mikhailovich went to study in Berlin.
Sechenov will stay 4 years abroad, where his career will begin to flourish.
Career
In Berlin, a 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 frog's brain. Further there are publications in medical journals, 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 thesis, receiving a doctorate in medical sciences. He will work at the academy for 10 years, having made many discoveries in medicine and physics.
Then chaotic work begins in different laboratories and institutes. Sechenov heads the Department of Physiology in Odessa, then becomes a professor in the Department of Physiology and Anatomy.
In 1869, he was already a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (after a series of discoveries in the theory of physiological solutions). At this time, he is the head of the department of zoology, organizes his physiological laboratory.
In 1889, the professor became president of the first International Psychological Congress in Paris, at the same time receiving the title of Associate Professor of Moscow University.
In 1901, I.M.Sechenov received the title of professor of physiology and officially resigned. 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 Petersburg he met Maria Alexandrovna Bokova. The girl dreamed of becoming a physician, 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 offers her to write a scientific work. Maria will do the job 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 have been published in magazines, several books have been 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), reprinted in 2014;
- "On the absorption of CO 2 by salt solutions and strong acids" (1888);
- "Physiology of the nerve centers" (1891);
- "On the alkalis of blood and lymph" (1893);
- "A device for fast and accurate gas analysis" (1896);
- "Portable breathing apparatus" (1900);
- "Essay on the labor movements of man" (1901);
- "Subjective Thought and Reality" (1902);
- the book "Notes of a Russian professor from medicine" - an autobiographical work, the scientist's memoirs about his childhood and years of study, reprinted in 2014;
- "Autobiographical notes" (1904).
Achievements
Sechenov’s biography and contribution to the science of the scientist are still of interest to people all over the world. Ivan Mikhailovich created a physiological school, which during its existence made a number of discoveries that are most important for humanity. One of them is the concept of non-specific brain systems.
A lot of research in the field of medicine has led to the discovery that red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, and from the tissues to the lungs - carbon dioxide. As a result of these discoveries, Sechenov developed the first portable breathing apparatus.
Professor Sechenov devoted much 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 main achievements in the field of biology is the discovery of inhibitory action. He also identified the cause of motor reflexes.
Awards and titles
During his long life, Academician I.M.Sechenov made many important discoveries, many of which we still use in science and education. Streets, institute are now named after Sechenov, a monument is 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 take a huge step forward in the future. The following are the titles and degrees of the scientist:
- Professor Emeritus, Moscow University;
- Academician of the Medical and Surgical Academy;
- Biological Corresponding Member;
- Honorary Member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences;
- Knight of the Imperial Order of St. Stanislav I degree;
- Knight of the Imperial Order of St. Anne of the III degree;
- Knight of the Imperial Order of St. Vladimir III degree;
- Doctor of Medicine degree;
- Doctor of Zoology degree.