Ovsiannikov, Filipp Vasilevich

Born June 14 (26), 1827, in St. Petersburg; died May 29 (June 11), 1906, on the estate of Zapol’e, in what is now Luga Raion, Leningrad Oblast. Russian physiologist and histologist. Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1863).

Ovsiannikov graduated from the University of Dorpat (now Tartu) in 1853. From 1858 to 1862 he headed the subdepartment of physiology at the University of Kazan, and from 1864 to 1886 the subdepartment of anatomy and physiology at the University of St. Petersburg; from 1886 to 1892 he was head of the anatomic histology laboratory at the University of St. Petersburg. In 1864 he organized the first physiological laboratory at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and headed the laboratory until his death.

Ovsiannikov investigated the nervous system and its leading role in regulating body functions, including nervous regulation of blood circulation. In 1871 he discovered the main vasomotor center, locating it in the medulla oblongata. He studied the physiology of blood and respiration. Ovsiannikov was one of the founders of histology and comparative physiology of the nervous system in Russia; his histological work focused on the comparative histology of nervous structures. He wrote several works on parasitology and toxicology. I. P. Pavlov and N. O. Kovalevskii were among the notable researchers who began their scientific careers in Ovsiannikov’s laboratory.