Ivan Pavlov : a very short introduction / Daniel P. Todes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Todes, Daniel Philip, author.

Series:

Very short introductions ; 715.

Very short introductions ; 715

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich, 1849-1936.

Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich.

Physiologists--Russia (Federation)--Biography.

Physiologists.

Russia (Federation).

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

140 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) is famous for his Nobel Prize-winning studies of digestion and, especially, his investigations of conditional reflexes, through which he attempted to understand and ease the "torments" of human consciousness. Based on rich archival materials, this work provides a uniquely rich and readable introduction to his life and work. The book follows Pavlov from his youth as a provincial seminarian to his scientific studies, traumas, and professional success in the glittering capital of St. Petersburg through world war and two revolutions, international celebrity status, and his complex relationship with the Bolsheviks under Lenin and Stalin. Exploring Pavlov's quest to constrain the psyche within mechanistic law, the work explains his innovative experimental techniques and approach, discusses his interpretive practices as a physiologist, reveals the personalities and importance of his favorite experimental dogs, and analyzes his important, but little-known, experiments on chimpanzees. The work ends with a discussion of the two manuscripts on which Pavlov labored during his last days, which reveal the relationship between the great scientist's work and his psychological drive for certainty amid the unforeseeable calamities in life and express his final thoughts about the relationship between science, Christianity, and Communism"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Winter at Koltushi

Certainty: religious and scientific

The haunted factory

Pavlov's quest

Come the Bolsheviks

Nervous types

Year of climaxes

Final reflections.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 127-135) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Todes, Daniel P. Ivan Pavlov: a very short introduction

ISBN:

9780190906696

0190906693

OCLC:

1313118008