Топик: Outstanding people

- Who glorified Russia?

- Every country is proud of its outstanding people. Russia can be really proud of its great people. Russian scientists and inventors made a great contribution to the development of arts, science, technology, medicine. Their names are world-known. Almost in every field of human activity they achieved great results. M. Lomonosov was one of the most learned men in Europe. He was an outstanding innovator both in the humanities and sciences. He inspired the foundation of the first Russian University. Mendeleev's greatest discovery was the Periodic System of Elements. Russia is rightly called the mother of aviation and interplanetary navigation.

- Who are you going to talk about?

- I admire the achievements of the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Ivan Pavlov is known chiefly for his development of the concept of the conditioned reflex. In a now-classic experiment, Pavlov trained a hungry dog to salivate at the sound of a bell, which was previously associated with the sight of food. He developed a similar conceptual approach, emphasizing the importance of conditioning, in his pioneering studies relating human behaviour to the nervous system.

- Was Pavlov's work appreciated?

- Yes, certainly. Ivan Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology in 1904.

- What do you know about Pavlov's early life?

- Pavlov, the son of a priest, was born on September 14, 1849. He spent his youth in Ryazan. In 1870 he entered the University of St. Petersburg, where he studied chemistry and physiology. After receiving the M.D. at the Imperial Medical Academy in St. Peters burg, he studied in Germany. Pavlov's first independent research was on the physiology of the circulatory system. From 1888 to 1890 in St. Petersburg he investigated cardiac physiology and the regulation of blood pressure. In 1890 he became professor of physiology.

- What law did Pavlov formulate?

- Pavlov formulated the law of the conditioned reflex.

- How long was the scientist occupied with the subject?

- The subject occupied Pavlov's attention from about 1898 until 1930.

- What did Pavlov try to explain with his law?

- From about 1930 to 1936, Pavlov tried to apply his law to the explanation of human psychoses. During this period Pavlov announced the important principle of the language function in the human activity as based on long chains of conditioned reflexes involving words. The function of language involves not only words, he held, but an elaboration of generalizations. Pavlov's work laid the basis for the scientific analysis of behaviour.

- Who else glorified Russia?

- Tsiolkovsky did.

- What is Konstantin Tsiolkovsky noted for?

- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is the father of rocket flying. He was among the first to work out the theoretical problems of rocket travel in space. He is the greatest Russian research scientist in aeronautics and astronautics who pioneered rocket and space re search and the development and use of wind tunnels for aerodynamic studies.

- What family did Konstantin Tsiolkovsky come from?

- Tsiolkovsky's father was a forestry official.

- What event had an important impact on his early life?

- At the age of nine Tsiolkovsky lost his hearing. He had to study at home. The boy became withdrawn and lonely, yet self- reliant. Books became his friends. He developed an interest in mathematics and physics and, while still a teenager, began to speculate on space travel.

- Did Konstantin Tsiolkovsky study anywhere?

- At 16 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky went to Moscow to study chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, and mechanics. Listening to the lectures with the aid of an ear trumpet, he expanded his grasp of the problems of flight. But in 1876 Tsiolkovsky's father called him home to Vyatka.

- What did Tsiolkovsky do then?

- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky passed the teachers examination and was assigned to a school in Borovsk, about 100 km from Moscow. There he began his teaching career. Then Tsiolkovsky was transferred to another teaching post in Kaluga

- What did Konstantin Tsiolkovsky do in Kaluga besides teaching?

- There in Kaluga Konstantin Tsiolkovsky carried out his re search in astronautics and aeronautics. While investigating aerodynamics, however, Tsiolkovsky began to devote more attention to space problems.

- Did Konstantin Tsiolkovsky publish books and articles on the problems he studied?

--> ЧИТАТЬ ПОЛНОСТЬЮ <--