(3 reviews) Author: ISBN : 9780801866906 New from $3.50 Format: PDFRussian physiologist and Nobel Prize winner Ivan Pavlov is most famous for his development of the concept of the conditional reflex and the classic experiment in which he trained a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell. In Pavlov's Physiology Factory: Experiment, Interpretation, Laboratory Enterprise, Daniel P. Todes explores Pavlov's early work in digestive physiology through the structures and practices of his landmark laboratory -- the physiology department of the Imperial Institute for Experimental Medicine.
In Lectures on the Work of the Main Digestive Glands, for which Pavlov won the Nobel Prize in 1904, the scientist frequently referred to the experiments of his coworkers and stated that his conclusions reflected "the deed of the entire laboratory." This novel claim caused the prize committee some consternation. Was he alone deserving of the prize? Examining the fascinating content of Pavlov's scientific notes and correspondence, unpublished memoirs, and laboratory publications, Pavlov's Physiology Factory explores the importance of Pavlov's directorship of what the author calls a "physiology factory" and illuminates its relationship to Pavlov's Nobel Prize-winning work and the research on conditional reflexes that followed it.
Todes looks at Pavlov's performance in his various roles as laboratory manager, experimentalist, entrepreneur, and scientific visionary. He discusses changes wrought by government and commercial interests in science and sheds light on the pathways of scientific development in Russia -- making clear Pavlov's personal achievements while also examining his style of laboratory management. Pavlov's Physiology Factory thus addresses issues of importance to historians of science and scientists today: "big" versus "small" science, the dynamics of experiment and interpretation, and the development of research cultures.
- Hardcover: 512 pages
- Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1 edition (November 20, 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0801866901
- ISBN-13: 978-0801866906
- Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
Pavlov's Physiology Factory: Experiment, Interpretation, Laboratory Enterprise PDF
In the beginning of 20th century Pavlov (Russian physiologist) was nominated several times for the Nobel prize. Pavlov was rejected several times because he freely credited his co-workers which was very unusual at that time and the Nobel committee concerned who was mostly responsible for results - Pavlov, or people working in his lab. Daniel Todes, the author of the book, failes to mention that since then crediting of one's coworkers became very common in the West too. Today it is almost impossible to find a lab where the boss failes to credit his or her multiple co-workers for the experiments conducted by them but conceived by the boss. Nobel Commettee doesn't have a problem with this any more. But Daniel Todes does. He is painstakingly counting the references for Pavlov's technicians on the pages of his Lectures, making it almost a crime. I am well in the middle of the book (probably I will never finish it), and I am still left wondering why such undistinguished guy (in the Mr. Todes' view) finally got his Nobel Prize. According to the book, Pavlov was rather a mediocre scientist, working in mediocre institution in a backward country (that's Russia, and this is probably the key to understand Mr. Todes position), who never invented anything new (Pavlov's famous surgical technics were traced to old technics, in which nerves were freely cut on an assumption that they are irrelevant. This is the same as saying that invention of the automobile was nothing exceptional, since long before people used horse-drawn carriages). Mr. Todes comes very close to accusing Pavlov of scientific dishonesty (Pavlov's claim of his "happy dogs" was not true, in Mr.
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