Ivan Pavlov: a Very Short Introduction
Ivan Pavlov: a Very Short Introduction

Author: Daniel P. Todes

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 0190906693

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"Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) is famous for his Nobel Prize-winning studies of digestion and, especially, his investigations of conditional reflexes, through which he attempted to understand and ease the "torments" of human consciousness. Based on rich archival materials, this work provides a uniquely rich and readable introduction to his life and work. The book follows Pavlov from his youth as a provincial seminarian to his scientific studies, traumas, and professional success in the glittering capital of St. Petersburg through world war and two revolutions, international celebrity status, and his complex relationship with the Bolsheviks under Lenin and Stalin. Exploring Pavlov's quest to constrain the psyche within mechanistic law, the work explains his innovative experimental techniques and approach, discusses his interpretive practices as a physiologist, reveals the personalities and importance of his favorite experimental dogs, and analyzes his important, but little-known, experiments on chimpanzees. The work ends with a discussion of the two manuscripts on which Pavlov labored during his last days, which reveal the relationship between the great scientist's work and his psychological drive for certainty amid the unforeseeable calamities in life and express his final thoughts about the relationship between science, Christianity, and Communism"--

Ivan Pavlov: a Very Short Introduction
Ivan Pavlov: a Very Short Introduction

Author: Daniel Philip Todes

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780190906702

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"Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) is famous for his Nobel Prize-winning studies of digestion and, especially, his investigations of conditional reflexes, through which he attempted to understand and ease the "torments" of human consciousness. Based on rich archival materials, this work provides a uniquely rich and readable introduction to his life and work. The book follows Pavlov from his youth as a provincial seminarian to his scientific studies, traumas, and professional success in the glittering capital of St. Petersburg through world war and two revolutions, international celebrity status, and his complex relationship with the Bolsheviks under Lenin and Stalin. Exploring Pavlov's quest to constrain the psyche within mechanistic law, the work explains his innovative experimental techniques and approach, discusses his interpretive practices as a physiologist, reveals the personalities and importance of his favorite experimental dogs, and analyzes his important, but little-known, experiments on chimpanzees. The work ends with a discussion of the two manuscripts on which Pavlov labored during his last days, which reveal the relationship between the great scientist's work and his psychological drive for certainty amid the unforeseeable calamities in life and express his final thoughts about the relationship between science, Christianity, and Communism"--

Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov

Author: Daniel Philip Todes

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 897

ISBN-13: 0199925194

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This is a definitive, deeply researched biography of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) and is the first scholarly biography to be published in any language. The book is Todes's magnum opus, which he has been working on for some twenty years. Todes makes use of a wealth of archival material to portray Pavlov's personality, life, times, and scientific work. Combining personal documents with a close reading of scientific texts, Todes fundamentally reinterprets Pavlov's famous research on conditional reflexes. Contrary to legend, Pavlov was not a behaviorist (a misimpression captured in the false iconic image of his "training a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell"); rather, he sought to explain not simply external behaviors, but the emotional and intellectual life of animals and humans. This iconic "objectivist" was actually a profoundly anthropomorphic thinker whose science was suffused with his own experiences, values, and subjective interpretations. This book is also a traditional "life and times" biography that weaves Pavlov into some 100 years of Russian history-particularly that of its intelligentsia--from the emancipation of the serfs to Stalin's time. Pavlov was born to a family of priests in provincial Ryazan before the serfs were emancipated, made his home and professional success in the glittering capital of St. Petersburg in late imperial Russia, suffered the cataclysmic destruction of his world during the Bolshevik seizure of power and civil war of 1917- 1921, rebuilt his life in his 70s as a "prosperous dissident" during the Leninist 1920s, and flourished professionally as never before in 1929-1936 during the industrialization, revolution, and terror of Stalin. Todes's story of this powerful personality and extraordinary man is based upon interviews with surviving coworkers and family members (along with never-before-analyzed taped interviews from the 1960s and 1970s), examination of hundreds of scientific works

Physics: A Very Short Introduction
Physics: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Sidney Perkowitz

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-07-25

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 0192543563

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Physics, the fundamental science of matter and energy, encompasses all levels of nature from the subatomic to the cosmic, and underlies much of the technology around us. Understanding the physics of our universe is an essential aspect of humanity's quest to understand our environment and our place within it. Doing physics enables us to explore the interaction between environment and human society, and can help us to work towards the future sustainability of the planet. This Very Short Introduction provides an overview of how this pervasive science came to be and how it works: who funds it, how physicists are trained and how they think, and how physics supports the technology we all use. Sidney Perkowitz presents the theories and outcomes of pure and applied physics from ideas of the Greek natural philosophers to modern quantum mechanics, cosmology, digital electronics and energy production. Considering its most consequential experiments, including recent results in elementary particles, gravitational waves and materials science, he also discusses outside the lab, the effects of physics on society, culture, and humanity's vision of its place in the universe. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction
Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Andrew Robinson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009-08-27

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 0199567786

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"Starting with the origins of writing five thousand years ago, with cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, Andrew Robinson explains how these early forms of writing developed into hundreds of scripts including the Roman alphabet and the Chinese characters. He reveals how the modern writing system we take for granted - including airport signage and electronic text messaging - resemble ancient scripts much more closely than we think." --Book Jacket.

Engineering: A Very Short Introduction
Engineering: A Very Short Introduction

Author: David Blockley

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-03-22

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 0199578699

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Engineering is part of almost everything we do - from the water we drink and the food we eat, to the buildings we live in and the roads and railways we travel on. This book explores the nature and practice of engineering, its history, its scope, and its relationship with art, science and technology.

Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction
Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Erle C. Ellis

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-02-22

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0192511386

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The proposal that the impact of humanity on the planet has left a distinct footprint, even on the scale of geological time, has recently gained much ground. Global climate change, shifting global cycles of the weather, widespread pollution, radioactive fallout, plastic accumulation, species invasions, the mass extinction of species - these are just some of the many indicators that we will leave a lasting record in rock, the scientific basis for recognizing new time intervals in Earth's history. The Anthropocene, as the proposed new epoch has been named, is regularly in the news. Even with such robust evidence, the proposal to formally recognize our current time as the Anthropocene remains controversial both inside and outside the scholarly world, kindling intense debates. The reason is clear. The Anthropocene represents far more than just another interval of geologic time. Instead, the Anthropocene has emerged as a powerful new narrative, a concept through which age-old questions about the meaning of nature and even the nature of humanity are being revisited and radically revised. This Very Short Introduction explains the science behind the Anthropocene and the many proposals about when to mark its beginning: the nuclear tests of the 1950s? The beginnings of agriculture? The origins of humans as a species? Erle Ellis considers the many ways that the Anthropocene's "evolving paradigm" is reshaping the sciences, stimulating the humanities, and foregrounding the politics of life on a planet transformed by humans. The Anthropocene remains a work in progress. Is this the story of an unprecedented planetary disaster? Or of newfound wisdom and redemption? Ellis offers an insightful discussion of our role in shaping the planet, and how this will influence our future on many fronts. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Leibniz
Leibniz

Author: Maria Rosa Antognazza

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 0198718640

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This Very Short Introduction considers who Leibniz was and introduces his overarching intellectual vision. It follows his pursuit of the systematic reform and advancement of all the sciences, to be undertaken as a collaborative enterprise supported by an enlightened ruler, and his ultimate goal of the improvement of the human condition.

Identity
Identity

Author: Florian Coulmas

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0198828543

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This book introduces identity, one of the most iconic concepts of our time, which is used ubiquitously but rarely explained. It discusses the various uses of 'identity' separately for different fields of study - philosophy, psychology, sociology, gender studies, and linguistics. This book also compares Western concepts and theories of identity with similar concepts in other parts of the world. It explains how contemporary trends in marketization and globalization have made identity increasingly important to us in the last 50 years. This book also outlines the historical background to the concept of identity.

Earth System Science: A Very Short Introduction
Earth System Science: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Tim Lenton

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-02-25

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0191028959

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When humanity first glimpsed planet Earth from space, the unity of the system that supports humankind entered the popular consciousness. The concept of the Earth's atmosphere, biosphere, oceans, soil, and rocks operating as a closely interacting system has rapidly gained ground in science. This new field, involving geographers, geologists, biologists, oceanographers, and atmospheric physicists, is known as Earth System Science. In this Very Short Introduction, Tim Lenton considers how a world in which humans could evolve was created; how, as a species, we are now reshaping that world; and what a sustainable future for humanity within the Earth System might look like. Drawing on elements of geology, biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics, Lenton asks whether Earth System Science can help guide us onto a sustainable course before we alter the Earth system to the point where we destroy ourselves and our current civilisation. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.