Physiology, Institute of

(full name I. P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), a scientific research institution that studies the physiological functions of animals and man.

The institute was founded in Leningrad in 1925 at the initiative of I. P. Pavlov, whose name was given to the institute in 1936. It has been headed by I. P. Pavlov (1925–36), L. A. Orbeli (1936–50), K. M. Bykov (1950–59), and Academician V. N. Chernigovskii (1959–77).

Through the study of the mechanisms regulating the activity of human and animal physiological systems, the institute investigates planned intervention in such systems’ functions and the maintenance of life processes under a variety of conditions. Research is conducted on the physiology of higher nervous activity, on behavioral genetics, on the physiology of visceral systems and of the mechanisms regulating their activity, and on the physiology of the sensory systems and speech.

The institute has 32 specialized laboratories combined into four departments: physiology of higher nervous activity, physiology of sensory systems and speech, general physiology and morphology of the nervous system, and physiology of the visceral systems. It also has a computer center, a laboratory of research cinematography, a scientific-technical department, and a scientific-organizational department.

The institute was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1969.