P. K. Anokhin is the founder of theory of functional systems (to 120th birthday anniversary of academician Pyotr Kuzmich Anokhin)

The article is dedicated to 120th birthday anniversary of a well-known Soviet scientist, the author of theory of functional systems, academician of Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR and Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Pyotr Kuzmich Anokhin (1898-1974). In the article the main milestones of his life, of his scientific and pedagogical activity are considered. P.K. Anokhin was among the talented pupils of academician I.P. Pavlov. Having gained a substantial physiological knowledge under his guidance, Anokhin very early showed his worth as an independent original researcher developing a new important section of physiology. P.K. Anokhin is one of leading physiologists of the XX century. He inherited the best traditions of the classic Russian physiology and created his scientific school. P.K. Anokhin focused his research work on investigation of neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the activity of the nervous system, but the main direction of his theoretical and experimental work was a study of an organism as an integral formation. The theory of functional systems proposed by P.K. Anokhin is widely recognized in the world science, and he is the founder of the systemic approach in physiology and biology. Results of his research, his many-sided heritage and productive ideas proposed and developed by him during more than 50 years of his activity are used not only in physiology, but also in other fields of knowledge: biology, mathematics, pedagogics, philosophy…Works of P.K. Anokhin gained him recognition and acknowledgement in the international science which is evidenced by numerous references to his works in the modern scientific medical literature.