Samoylov

Samoylov Alexander Filippovich (1867-1930), one of the greatest physiologists of the 20th century. He graduated from the natural sciences department of Novorossiysk University and the medical faculty in Yuryev. After submitting his doctoral dissertation (1892), he was engaged in medical work for about a year (work on cholera in Tobolsk), and in 1893 was sent to the Institute of Experimental Medicine to Pavlov's laboratory. After 3 years of work with Pavlov (works on the influence of long-term regimens on gastric secretion; research on the method of Mett), S. moved to work with I. M. Sechenov in Moscow, first as a laboratory assistant, and later as a privat-docent of the medical faculty, and worked at Moscow University until 1903, when he was appointed ordinary professor of zoology, comparative anatomy and physiology of the physical-mathematical faculty of Kazan University, where he remained a professor until his death. From 1925, he was simultaneously a professor of physiology at the Veterinary Institute and the physical-mathematical faculty of the university in Moscow. In the last years of his life, he was the organizer and consultant of electrocardiographic departments in the Obukh Institute and the Botkin Hospital (in Moscow). In 1898, he had his first scientific trip abroad, after which he almost annually visited various European laboratories, working with the leading figures of physiological science. He was in scientific contact with the leading European physiologists Einthoven, Hamburger, Magnus, Cannon, Sherrington, Kris, and others. S.-a bright representative of the latest exact experimental physiology, who rendered enormous assistance to the development of works in the field of physiology of excitable and contractile tissues (skeletal muscle and heart) and the application of the most precise research methods in this area. This was his historical role in the development of our physiology. S. turned out to be not only an innovator in the promotion of exact electrophysiological methods in neuromuscular physiology, becoming the creator of a whole (though scattered) school, but also in promoting the same methods in medicine. The name of S. is associated with the introduction in Russia and the further development of electrocardiography, which he began to study as early as 1908, publishing a special work on the practical application of the string galvanometer. In his works on electrocardiography, he provided the most valuable material for the theory of electrocardiograms, for the analysis of electrocardiograms of the heart of animals and humans. Regarding the nature of muscle contraction and the general interpretation of electrophysiological phenomena, Samoylov, in the environment of the dominance of physical theories, held among the few others to the chemical theory, believing that in the process of nerve irritation of the muscle, certain chemical substances are formed, which cause the process of muscle contraction. Confirmation of this was dedicated to the works of S. on determining the temperature coefficient for the process of transmission of nerve impulse to the muscle. Samoylov and his colleagues have given a whole series of fundamental, unsurpassed in world literature for accuracy and artistic execution of works in the field of physiology of muscle, nerve fiber, end plate, central nervous system, cardiac muscle and sensory organs. In addition to experimental work, S. paid great attention to theoretical issues of physiology, history of physiology and philosophical issues. S. owns the article "Dialectics of Nature and Natural Science" (1926), in which he appears as a mechanical materialist who did not understand the role of dialectical materialism. In this article, as in a number of other works (article about Sechenov, report at the IV Congress of Physiologists and a number of others), S. gave a vivid example for characterizing the path of a natural scientist - a mechanical materialist going to an inevitable dead end, unable to take the path of the only scientific method of dialectical materialism. S. was not only the largest representative of the latest trend in his field, but also a creator in other areas. He gave a number of major works in the field of music theory, putting a lot of effort into research on the connection between the physiology of sensory organs and the theory of musical modes. He was the first to create an experience of creating a center for joint work of scientists and musicians (1904), which developed maximally after October in the State Institute of Musical Science, of which he was a full member. S. was an exceptional educator, paying much attention to the first-class organization of physiology teaching in higher education. He was a participant in many physiologists' congresses in the USSR and world congresses as a delegate of the USSR. He took an active part in public work, being a member of the Tatar Central Executive Committee. He was awarded the V. I. Lenin Prize and the title of Honored Scientist. From 1898 to the time of his death, he published about 110 works. The main series of works in Pfliigers Archiv, starting from 1908. Biographical data, reviews of works and a brief bibliography are given in a special issue of the Kazan Medical Journal (1931, No. 4-5), dedicated entirely to Samoylov.