Description
The collection of photographs, taken around the turn
of the 20th century, shows Pavlov's laboratories, coworkers, and some laboratory
procedures used in his experiments. The photographs were presented by one of
Pavlov's pupils, Professor Petr Stepanovich Kupalov, to Dr. Mary A. B. Brazier,
Professor of Anatomy, UCLA, in 1958 on the occasion of an international meeting
in Russia. Dr. Brazier presented the photos to the History and Special
Collections Division, UCLA Biomedical Library in 1985, in honor of UCLA School
of Medicine's former Dean, Sherman M. Mellinkoff, M.D.
Background
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) studied physiology and received a doctorate
in medicine from St. Peterburg University in 1883. From 1879 to 1890 he was
professor of pharmacology in St. Petersburg, then became professor of physiology
and later director of the St. Peterburg Institute for Experimental Medicine
until 1936. After early work on control of blood pressure he soon turned to
studying the physiology of digestion. The new techniques of surgery and
postoperate care he invented openend up the study of digestive processes in
normal healthy animals over long periods of time.