The outstanding Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov is known not only in Russia. His doctrine of higher nervous activity played a decisive role in the development of physiology and psychology.
I. Pavlov's contribution to the development of science was appreciated by the world scientific community. In 1904, the researcher received the Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology, and in 1912, Cambridge University - one of the oldest universities in the world - elected a Russian scientist an honorary doctor of science.
Student gift
The year 1912, when Cambridge University was highly honored by I. Pavlov, was also significant for the institution itself: 250 years ago, King Charles II of England signed a document again authorizing his activities.
The ceremony of honoring foreign scientists was distinguished by solemnity. Among other researchers awarded the honorary title, I. Pavlov entered the Cambridge University conference room in a black velvet beret and a scarlet cloth mantle decorated with a gold chain, as prescribed by the university tradition. Students were not allowed to attend the meeting, but no one forbade them to attend the upper galleries of the hall, where they gathered in large numbers. It was the invention of students that made this ceremony unforgettable.
When the ceremonial speeches resounded, an honorary diploma was handed over and the solemn procession headed by I. Pavlov headed for the exit, the students on the rope lowered a soft toy from the gallery into the scientist’s hands - a dog decorated with rubber and glass tubes. This was an allusion to the fistula tubes that the researcher used in his experiments on dogs, studying the role of the conditioned reflex in the regulation of digestion.
I. Pavlov was very touched by such a gift, did not part with him until the end of his life, and after the death of the scientist, the toy was stored in his museum-apartment in St. Petersburg.
