Ivan Petrovich was born on September 14 (26), 1849, in Ryazan, into a priest’s family. Both his paternal and maternal ancestors were clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church.
After graduating from the theological school in Ryazan in 1864, Pavlov entered the Ryazan Theological Seminary, which he later recalled with great affection. During his final year at the seminary, he read a small book titled "Reflexes of the Brain" by Professor Ivan Sechenov, which completely changed the course of his life. In 1870, he enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of St. Petersburg (seminary graduates were limited in their choice of university programs), but 17 days after his admission, he was transferred to the Natural Department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, where he specialized in animal physiology under the guidance of Ilya Tsion and Philip Ovsyannikov. Pavlov did not care much about material well-being and paid little attention to worldly matters until his marriage. Poverty only began to depress him after his marriage in 1881 to Serafima Vasilievna Karchevskaya, a woman from Rostov. They had met in St. Petersburg in the late 1870s.
In 1883, Pavlov defended his doctoral thesis "On the Centrifugal Nerves of the Heart".
From 1884 to 1886, Pavlov traveled abroad to Breslau and Leipzig to further his knowledge, working in the laboratories of Wilhelm Wundt, Rudolf Heidenhein, and Carl Ludwig.
In 1890, Pavlov was elected professor and director of the Department of Pharmacology at the Military Medical Academy, and in 1896, he became the director of the Department of Physiology, which he led until 1924. At the same time (since 1890), Pavlov headed the Physiology Laboratory at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, organized by Prince Alexander Oldenburgsky.
Ivan Pavlov at the Department of Physiology of the Military Medical Academy, 1912. The scientist enjoyed spending time with his wife in the town of Sillamäe (now in Estonia), where from 1891 until the Revolution, they rented the largest dacha for the entire summer season — June, July, and August. It was located at Tursamäe, on the property of A. Valdmann. In the mornings, Ivan Petrovich worked in the flower garden, fertilizing the flowerbeds, planting and watering the flowers, and changing the sand on the paths. In the afternoons, the family would go out to collect berries or mushrooms, and in the evenings, they would take a mandatory bicycle ride. At 11 p.m., Pavlov would gather his company for a game of gorodki.
In 1901, he was elected as a corresponding member.
In 1907, he became a full member (academician).
In 1904, Pavlov received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "reconstructing" the true physiology of digestion.
He became an honorary member of Moscow University in 1916, and a member of the French Academy of Sciences (1911), the Royal Irish Academy (1917), and the Leopoldina (1925).
In 1918, Ivan Pavlov and his family were given an apartment in the House of Academicians in Leningrad (current address: St. Petersburg, 7th line of Vasilievsky Island, 2/1, lit. A, sq. 11). The scientist lived there for 18 years, until his death. Today, at this address, there is a museum-apartment dedicated to I.P. Pavlov, and a commemorative plaque has been placed on the building’s facade in honor of the great physiologist.
In 1921, the Soviet People's Commissariat (SNK RSFSR) issued a special decree, signed by Vladimir Lenin, to create the necessary conditions for Pavlov's scientific work. Despite his ideological differences with the Bolsheviks, Pavlov remained in his homeland and confessed: "Whatever I do, I always believe that I am serving, as much as my strength allows, above all my homeland, our Russian science."
From 1925 until the end of his life, Pavlov headed the Institute of Physiology at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
In 1934, on the occasion of I.P. Pavlov's 85th anniversary, A.M. Gorky wrote a letter to V.M. Molotov proposing to celebrate Pavlov’s jubilee, including awarding him honorary titles, as well as granting him "one hundred rubles per month in Torgsin vouchers" (this correspondence was published in 1989-1990).
In 1935, at the 15th International Congress of Physiologists, Ivan Petrovich was honored with the title of "oldest physiologist in the world." No biologist had ever received such an honor, neither before nor after him. During a reception held by the Soviet government for the congress delegation, Pavlov remarked: "...We, heads of scientific institutions, are directly concerned and anxious about whether we will be able to justify all the means the government presents to us." Academician Ivan Pavlov spoke of his strong sense of responsibility to his homeland in a letter to the youth, written shortly before his death.
Academician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov passed away on February 27, 1936, in Leningrad. The cause of death was pneumonia. According to his wishes, the funeral was held according to Orthodox rites at the Church of St. John of Kronstadt in Koltushi, followed by a farewell ceremony at the Tavrichesky Palace.
