1849-1936

Russian Physiologist

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born in Ryazan, Russia. After attending a local theological seminary, Pavlov traveled to the University of St. Petersburg, where he undertook the study of chemistry and physiology. Pavlov earned his medical degree from the Imperial Medical Academy in 1879. A year later, Pavlov assumed a professorship at the academy, a post he was to maintain throughout the tumultuous 1917 Russian Revolution.

Pavlov began his postgraduate work with studies on the mechanistic physiology of the circulatory system. Subsequently, Pavlov's work centered on nervous control of the heart. Eventually, Pavlov moved on to studies of the digestive system, and his efforts resulted in the publication of a well-received 1897 work titled Lectures on the Work of the Digestive Glands.

Although Pavlov's work on digestive secretions earned a 1904 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine, Pavlov is best known for his work with conditioned...