Eugene Nikolayevich Sokolov (September 23, 1920 in Nizhny Novgorod – May 14, 2008 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

), also known as Evgeny Nikolaevich Sokolow, Evgeny Nikolaevich Sokolov, Evgeni Sokolov, Ye. N. Sokolov, Evgeniĭ Sokolov, Yevgeny Nikolaevich Sokolov, and Yevgeniy Nikolaevich Sokolov, was a Russian researcher specialized in the field of

neuroscience Neuroscience is the science, scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a Multidisciplinary approach, multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, an ...

who worked at

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

and founded the Soviet psychophysiology research. He is best known for his work on the

orienting reflex The orienting response (OR), also called ''orienting reflex'', is an organism's immediate response to a change in its environment, when that change is not sudden enough to elicit the startle reflex. The phenomenon was first described by Russian p ...

and habituation. He authored ''Orienting Response Information'' on this subject. He served as a lecturer at Cambridge and Oxford in 1969, was a visiting professor at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

since 1974, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975 as a foreign associate in the discipline of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, and became an honorary member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

in 1976. In 1984, he was elected to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and received the Pavlov Gold Medal Award from the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

. In 1988, the

Society for Psychophysiological Research The Society for Psychophysiological Research is an international scientific organization with over 800 members worldwide. The society is composed of scientists whose research is focused on the study of the interrelationships between the physiologic ...

awarded Sokolov a special diploma "for outstanding contributions to psychophysiology". In 1998 he was recognized by the International Organization of Psychophysiology as one of five most acclaimed neuroscientists of the twentieth century.

References

20th-century Russian scientists Russian neuroscientists Moscow State University alumni Moscow State University faculty 1920 births 2008 deaths People from Nizhny Novgorod Academicians of the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Soviet neuroscientists {{USSR-scientist-stub