Life and the “Scientific method” of Academician I.P. Pavlov (to 170th anniversary of the birthday)

The life and scientific work of I.P. Pavlov are presented. Little-known facts from the life of the scientist are covered. It is noted that the doctrine of higher nervous activity created by I.P. Pavlov is one of the greatest achievements of modern natural science. Outstanding properties and features of extremely rich human nature with amazing harmony are combined in one person, the like of which can hardly be found among other creators of experimental sciences. The laws discovered by him are related to the phenomena of mental life in animals and humans. Many researchers suffered a brutal setback while searching explanations to them. The works of Pavlov on the physiology of digestion was awarded the International Nobel Prize in 1904. It is considered that during 15–20 years of hard work Pavlov became the creator of an extensive branch of knowledge. The origins of the classical studies of the scientist on the physiology of digestion date back to his student years. From the first steps in science, he caught the main thread of interconnections of body systems and, regardless of the object of observation, studied the substance of the nervous systems. It is noted that the “scientific method of Pavlov” embodies the main features of his worldview, his views on the integrity of the organism and on the unity of the organism with the environment — views that make him related to the outstanding representatives of advanced materialistic biology and philosophy of the 19^th and first half of the 20^th century, primarily with Darwin, Sechenov, Timiryazev. It is emphasized that the “scientific method of Pavlov” in the new period of his creative work — in the process of studying the physiology of higher nervous activity — continuously improved, the importance of its components — analytical and synthetic approach in the study of complex functions of the body — more clearly emerged. Thus it is shown that the teaching of I.P. Pavlov played an outstanding role in the development of world medical science because in his experiments, he did not use template methods of scientific research, but used completely new, original and extremely simple ones, which gave convincing information and brought clarity to the most complex issues.