Sechenov, Ivan Mikhailovich

Came from the nobles . He was born on August 1 ( 13 ), 1829 in the village of Teply Stan ( Kurmysh district of the Simbirsk province ) in a large family (Sechenov had five brothers and three sisters).

On August 15, 1843, he successfully passed the exams at the Main Military Engineering School in St. Petersburg, where he successfully studied for five years in the lower grades. According to the results of the exams, he did not enter the officer class and on June 21, 1848 he was sent to the rank of ensign in the 2nd reserve engineer battalion in Kiev. In 1850, with the rank of second lieutenant, he resigned and in 1851 he entered as a volunteer at the medical faculty of Imperial Moscow University , where he graduated with honors with a doctor ’s degree in 1856. After the death of his mother in 1855, he abandoned the rights to the estate, received compensation for him in the amount of 6,000 rubles and in 1856-1860. at his own expense he improved education abroad, where physiology was at a higher level. Sechenov began his studies in Berlin by studying chemistry in the laboratory of medical chemistry of Felix Hoppe-Zeiler , where he studied the chemical composition of the fluids entering the body of an animal. In the laboratory of a large German anatomist and physiologist Ernst Heinrich Weber, Sechenov conducted a study of the effect of alcohol on breathing (conducted on himself) and on muscles and nerves (experiments were carried out on frogs). In the winter semester of 1856, he attended a lecture course in electrophysiology with Emil Heinrich Dubois-Reymond . In addition, during his year in Berlin, Sechenov attended a lecture course by prominent scientists: Heinrich Gustav Magnus - in physics, Heinrich Rose - in analytical chemistry, Johann Peter Müller - in comparative anatomy, and Dubois-Raymond - in physiology. In the spring of 1858, Sechenov moved to Vienna, where he continued research in the laboratory of physiologist Karl Ludwig on the effect of alcohol on blood circulation. At the Sechenov University in Heidelberg, he worked with Robert Bunsen to analyze mixtures of atmospheric air with carbon dioxide and attended a course of inorganic chemistry, while in the laboratory of German Helmholtz he conducted four important studies: the effect of vagus nerve irritation on the heart; research in physiological optics; study of the speed of contractions of the frog muscles; study of the gases contained in milk.

Abroad, he prepared a doctoral dissertation on the topic “Materials for the future physiology of alcohol intoxication,” which he defended in 1860 at the Imperial St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy . He was elected associate professor and resident of the hospital (1860), extraordinary professor (1861, March), ordinary professor (1864, April) of physiology at the Medical and Surgical Academy, organized here one of the first physiological laboratories in Russia. From April 1862 to September 1863 he was on foreign scientific missions.

In September 1870 he was elevated by the Imperial University of Novorossiysk to the degree of Doctor of Zoology honoris causa . ^[2] Since February 1871 - extraordinary, since March 1871 - ordinary professor of the Imperial Novorossiysk University at the Department of Zoology. In 1872 he participated in the creation of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology. During his work at the Imperial Novorossiysk University Sechenov, in particular, determined the importance of hemoglobin and the liquid part of the blood for the binding and transport of carbon dioxide. Having established that with frequent irritation of the nerve, the signs of arousal disappear, Sechenov concluded that in the peripheral nerves, as well as in the central nervous system, the processes of excitation are replaced by processes of inhibition. ^[3]

Since 1876, he was an ordinary professor at the Imperial St. Petersburg University in the Department of Physiology (at the same time he taught at the Bestuzhev Higher Women's Courses , being one of their founders).

At the end of 1888 he moved to Moscow, where he began teaching at the Imperial Moscow University : privat-docent , ordinary (1891), honored (1896) professor at the Department of Normal Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, IMU . After the sudden death of the head of the department F.P.Sheremetevsky in 1891 he headed the department of normal physiology and led it until 1901. Under Sechenov, the department was called the physiological institute. ^[four]

Sechenov began his first lecture with the words: "... I, as a former graduate of Moscow University, really feel very happy that I finally have the opportunity to serve my native university." The efforts of Sechenov at the Imperial Moscow University opened a physiological laboratory, which became part of the Physiological Institute, which he created in 1893 ^[5] . The first Moscow physiological school in Russia arose here ( M. N. Shaternikov , A. F. Samoilov, and others).

Sechenov's scientific activity covered a wide range of physiological and psychological problems: physiology of respiration, metabolism, gas exchange, neuromuscular physiology. Sechenov made a particularly large contribution to the study of the central nervous system, where he owned the fundamental discoveries that form the basis of all forms of brain activity. In 1863, Sechenov discovered the phenomenon of central inhibition (the delaying effect of the nerve centers of the brain on the motor activity of the body). This phenomenon was the basis for the doctrine of the relationship between the body and the environment, gave a physiological justification of mental activity as a nervous mechanism that determines a person’s ability to withstand external influences. The discovery was crucial for the formation of Sechenov’s psychological and physiological views, the first exposition of which he gave in Reflexes of the Brain (1863). Sechenov’s work became “... both a deep scientific work and a political sermon that called for a new materialistic culture” ^[6] , received resonance in wide public circles and provoked a polemic on Sechenov’s ideas about the essence of mental activity. In 1866, Sechenov’s book was seized, however, removed a year later . In 1873, Sechenov put forward the first program in Russian science to build psychology as an independent science based on an objective method (“To whom and how to develop psychology”), in contrast to the notions of psychology as a science of phenomena of consciousness given to the subject in his inner observation ( introspection ) . Sechenov considered the genetic approach to be the most adequate in the study of mental activity, i.e., an analysis of the development of the psyche in the process of human life. In his studies, Sechenov defended the position that the principles of scientific knowledge that have developed in natural science (the principle of determinism, the experimental method, etc.) are also applicable to mental phenomena, but taking into account their specificity compared to nervous processes. In the 1870s Sechenov was actively engaged in the popularization of physiological knowledge in society, appeared in print (for example, on the pages of the Bulletin of Europe ), sometimes provoking a heated debate in connection with his materialistic explanations of the mechanisms of human spiritual activity.

During his work at Moscow University Sechenov discovered and described the phenomenon of summation in the nervous system, showed the presence of rhythmic bioelectric processes in the central nervous system, substantiated the position on the leading importance of the metabolic process in the implementation of the excitation process. The results of these works are presented in the work "Physiology of Nerve Centers" (1891).

Sechenov also actively studied the physiology of muscle activity and muscle fatigue, conducted gas exchange studies in humans under various conditions, on the basis of which the energy expenditures of the body are estimated. An important aspect of Sechenov's scientific research should be considered the work on the study of human labor activity, reflected in the article “Physiological criteria for setting the length of the working day” (1894) and the monograph “Essay on labor movements” (1901).

In 1901, Sechenov, in order not to “block the way for the young forces,” appealed to the rector of Moscow University for dismissal (while retaining the right to work in a physiological laboratory). After retiring, he continued his experimental work, research in the field of philosophy and psychology ^[7] , writing articles on the problems of perception psychology, etc.), gave public lectures, and taught anatomy and physiology at Prechistensky working courses . Sechenov outlined his scientific path in autobiographical notes (1905).

Vice-President of the Novorossiysk Society of Naturalists (1873-1876), member of the Moscow Psychological Society at the Imperial University of Moscow (since 1889). Corresponding Member (1869), Honorary Member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1904).

Valid state adviser ^[8] since December 21, 1874 ^[9] .

Sechenov's works had a huge impact on the development of domestic and world physiology, on the confirmation of natural-scientific ideas about a person, his mental organization and behavior.

He was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery . In 1940, the ashes were transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery .

• Corresponding Member of the Biological Department (1869-1904), Honorary Member (1904) of the Imperial Academy of Sciences
• Cavalier of the orders of St. Stanislav 1st degree (1899), St. Vladimir 3rd degree (1886), St. Anna 2nd degree (1870) ^[10] .

• In 1925, a memorial museum was organized in the building of the physiological laboratory (currently the Institute of General Physiology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences) ^[11] .
• Since 1955, Poluektov Lane (Moscow), where I.M.Sechenov lived in 1903-1905, bears his name. ^[12]
• In 1955, the name of Sechenov was assigned to the First Moscow Medical Institute , in front of the building of which a monument to Sechenov was installed ^[13] .
• In 1956, the Sechenov Prize for outstanding experimental and theoretical research in the field of general physiology was established by the RAMS .
• In 1970, the International Astronomical Union named IM Sechenov a crater on the far side of the moon .
• On November 4, 1989, Sechenov, an asteroid (5234) , discovered by astronomer of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory Lyudmila Karachkina, was named in honor of I.M.Sechenov .
• Since 1917, on the initiative of Academician I.P. Pavlov, a monthly Russian physiological journal named after I.M.Sechenova. ^[14]
• The monument to I.M.Sechenov was erected on the Alley of outstanding scientists of the Dnipropetrovsk Medical Academy in Dnepropetrovsk (now - the city of Dnipro). ^[15]

• About animal electricity. - SPb. : Publ. Military honey. Depart., 1862. - XVI, 202 c. : ill. ^[sixteen]
• "Reflexes of the brain" - 1863
• "Physiology of the nervous system" - 1866
• Setschenow I. Ueber die Absorbtion der Kohlensauren durch Salzlosungen. - SPb, 1875. - 82 S. - (Mem. De l'Acad. D. Sciences de St.-Petersb. - 1886. - T. XXII, No. 6).
• Psychological studies / [Op.] I. Sechenov. - SPb. : per type. F.S. Suschinsky, 1873 .-- 225 p. ^[17]
• "Elements of Thought" - 1879
• “On the absorption of CO _{2 by} salt solutions and strong acids” - 1888
• Physiology of Nerve Centers: [From lectures given at a meeting of doctors in Moscow, 1889-1890]. - SPb .: Publishing house L.F. Panteleeva, 1891 .-- III, 229 p.
• "On the alkalis of blood and lymph" - 1893
• Physiological criteria for setting the length of the working day // Izv. Imp. islands of lovers of natural sciences, anthropology and ethnography. - T. 78, no. 2. - M.: Type. M.G. Volchaninova, 1894 .-- S. 42-44. - (Trudy Fiz. Dep. Imp. Of the island of lovers of natural sciences, anthropology and ethnography; vol. 6, issue 2).
• Setschenow I., Schaternikoff M. Ein Beitrag zur Gasanalyse. - Leipzig, 1895. - (Zeitschr. Für physyk. Chemie. —1895. - XVIII, 4).
• "A device for fast and accurate gas analysis" - 1896
• "Portable breathing apparatus" - 1900, together with M. N. Shaternikov.
• “Subjective Thought and Reality” - 1902
• "Autobiographical notes" - 1904 ^[18]
• Essay on the working movements of man: App. to sobr. Op. - M.: Mosk. un-t, 1906. - IV, 139 c. : ill. ^[nineteen]
• Physiological essays. - 2nd ed. - M .; PG., 1923. - (Popular Scientific Library).

• Sechenov, Ivan Mikhailovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Sechenov Ivan Mikhailovich - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .
• Vvedensky N. E. I. Sechenov // Transactions of the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists. - 1906. - T. 36. - Issue. 2.
• Ivanova O. M. Anatomical and molecular principles in new technologies for studying the pathological process of ischemic disease. - S. 54-58.
• Kekcheev K.H. I.M.Sechenov . - M. , 1933. - (The life of wonderful people)
• Koshtoiants Kh.S.I.M. Sechenov - M. , 1950.
• Nozdrachev A.D., Pastukhov V.A. VIVOS VOCO A brilliant wave of physiological thought . To the 170th anniversary of the birth of I. M. Sechenov // " Nature ." - No. 11. - 1999.
• Belov P.T. Sechenov Materialism. - M., 1949
• Ukhtomsky A. A. I. Sechenov at Leningrad University // Ukhtomsky A. A. Dominant of the soul. - Rybinsk, Rybinsk Compound, 2000.
• Friedland L. S. Pages of one life. - L .: Lenizdat , 1959.
• Yaroshevsky M.G. I.M. Sechenov. - L., 1968.
• Mirsky M. B. I. M. Sechenov - M .: Education, 1978. - 120 p. - (People of science).
• Mirsky M. B. Revolutionary in science, a democrat in life: Ivan M. Sechenov - M .: Knowledge, 1988. - (Creators of science and technology).
• I.M.Sechenov (obituary) // Siberian Trading Newspaper. No. 247. November 18, 1905. Tyumen.
• Volkov V.A., Kulikova M.V. Moscow professors of the 18th - early 20th centuries. Natural and technical sciences. - M .: Janus-K; Moscow Textbooks and Cartolithography, 2003. - S. 214-215. - 294 p. - 2,000 copies. - ISBN 5-8037-0164-5 .
• Imperial Moscow University: 1755-1917: Encyclopedic Dictionary / A. Yu. Andreev, D. A. Tsygankov. - M .: Russian Political Encyclopedia (ROSSPEN), 2010. - S. 653-654. - 894 p. - 2,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8243-1429-8 .

• Sechenov, Ivan Mikhailovich on the official website of the RAS
• Sechenov Ivan Mikhailovich (neopr.) . Chronicle of Moscow University . Date of appeal September 27, 2017.
• Sechenov Ivan Mikhailovich
• Public domain publications