Viktor Petrovich Osipov

Born Oct. 31 (Nov. 12), 1871, in St. Petersburg; died May 22, 1947, in Leningrad. Soviet psychiatrist. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1939). Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1944). Honored Scientific Worker of the RSFSR (1933). Lieutenant general in the medical service. Member of the CPSU from 1939.

In 1895, Osipov graduated from the St. Petersburg Military Medical Academy. He was a student of V. M. Bekhterev. From 1906 to 1914 he was a professor at the University of Kazan. In 1915 he became a professor at the Military Medical Academy, where he later headed the subdepartment of psychiatry. From 1929 to 1947 he was director of the V. M. Bekhterev State Institute for the Study of the Brain.

Osipov was one of the founders of the pathophysiological school of psychiatry. His main area of interest was biological research. Osipov rejected the role of psychological complexes in schizophrenia and asserted the primacy of constitutional and genetic factors in the origin of the disorder. He proved that mental disturbances that accompany progressive paralysis are late syphilitic psychosis. Osipov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, three other orders, and a number of medals.