Hans Selye: biography, contribution to science. Books written by Hans Selye

Hans Selye is known throughout the world as the creator of the theory of stress. His books are still very popular. Many authoritative scientists and popular magazines refer to them. We suggest you follow the life path of this outstanding researcher.

Hans's parents

Hans Selye was born in Vienna on January 26, 1907. His father was a Hungarian, a military doctor who had his own private surgical clinic in Komarno (Slovakia). As a child, our mother was not troubled by our mother, an educated and rather eccentric woman. Maria Felicita (so her name) forced her son to speak with her family in four languages. He easily learned German and Hungarian. The first was for the mother, and the second for the father. Governesses were hired for teaching English and French.

Learning languages

The future professor Selye, of course, had no doubt that his mother, from the best of motives, had since the morning examined her son in French grammar. However, these studies led to the fact that during his life, Hans could not figure out which of the four languages he considered to be his own. Sometimes in the mornings he was very stressed, because he could not immediately understand which of them should be spoken. By the way, he was able to experience the stress only after he described it. And before that (probably because of ignorance) Hans managed to marry twice.

Two wives of Hans Selye

His first wife was the daughter of a coal magnate. Apparently, she also experienced an unpleasant feeling discovered by Hans, as her husband often disappeared in the laboratories of the university. Because of this, she was always unhappy with Hans Selye. After they had a child, the wife filed for divorce. She even managed to obtain a cancellation of her father's name for her daughter Katherine. Because of this, Hans was very worried. He did not manage to cope with the disease, the reason of which was that his daughter avoided him in every possible way. But Katherine's illness of his father for some reason did not inherit. She traveled the world a lot and sent complacent letters from all over the world.

Gabrielle, the second wife of a scientist, gave him four children. However, in this case, the need to educate all of them brought Selye to the state of horror. After 28 years of life with his wife and, of course, continuous stress, Hans decided to part with it.

Other sources of stress

In addition, Hans Selye mastered other sources of tension. For example, he could not accurately determine his nationality. Hans spent his childhood and youth in the town of Komarno, located in Austria-Hungary. After the collapse of the state this town was in Czechoslovakia. Selye issued a passport of this country. If we take into account the language confusion that was in Hans's mind, it is not hard to imagine how strong this source of stress was for him. However, the most terrible thing for our hero was, perhaps, that throughout his life he could not find a place where one could live and work peacefully.

Period of study

Hans Selye enrolled in the University of Prague, in the medical faculty, where he studied since 1924. However, there were no conditions in the University clinic to carry out research on how the body reacts to various infections. Namely this area of medicine was interested in at that time the student. After 2 years, Hans decided to transfer to the University of Paris. There were necessary conditions for work, but the scientist did not have a relationship with the local professors - he had to return to Prague.

Teaching Activities

Hans Selye in 1931 received, at last, a medical degree. He became a doctor of chemical sciences. In addition, Hans received a Rockefeller scholarship. Now he could conduct his research in the best educational institutions in the US and not worry about money. Selye went to teach at the University of Baltimore. Here he had good relations with students and colleagues. Nevertheless, with a cultural shock, the doctor was unable to cope.

Later, the professor recalled that he was most irritated by the party that the wives of professors had arranged for "poor foreign students". Hans could not get rid of invitations to these events, as well as the stress that they caused. After 3 years, he began working at the University of Montreal.

It would seem that there were all the conditions for such a nervous professor, including his own laboratory. However, Selye again experienced irritability and anxiety, which seemed causeless. During insomnia, he went through his past and tried to understand why his friends, who were in similar circumstances, behave calmly, and Hans constantly panics. Selye decided to understand this at the chemical level. Five years later, the first proof of the stress theory was the outstanding scientist Hans Selye.

Stress - the discovery of G. Selje

In 1936, the scientist published the first article devoted to the phenomenon of interest to him. In scientific circles, the invention, made by Hans Selye, was accepted with a bang. Apparently, there were other researchers who tried to explain the sensations that they sometimes had to experience. That's just no one dared to give them so much attention, not to mention to monitor the hormonal consequences of various life troubles. It was Hans Selye who first saw the connection between the sense of anxiety and what is happening at this moment in the human body. As you already know, he was fluent in English, so he had to find the necessary definition of stress (in translation from this language - "tension"), he did not have much difficulty. This word made Hans famous throughout the world.

Experiments on rats

Experiments that were conducted by Hans Selye at the University of Montreal were put to them not only over themselves, but also over rats. He created difficult living conditions. Without knowing, these animals have provided the person with undeniable evidence that stress really exists. In the blood of rats at this time, adrenaline was developed - the "stress hormone" (as he was called Selye Hans). The scientist suggested that the following main factors affect the strength of experiences - life experience, emotional stability of a particular person, as well as heredity, that is, how the human ancestors behaved in difficult situations.

Further experiments done by Selye Hans proved that stress is the cause of many diseases, such as arthritis, asthma and heart disease. It is accompanied by the release of hormones in large quantities, in particular adrenaline. Hans Selye came to these and other interesting conclusions. The stress of life, however, he continued to experience on himself very often.

New wife of Hans

The scientific recognition that the scientist received compensated for his unsuccessful personal life. However, now in his life a woman appeared again. Louise made Hans feel complicated. Selye was even happy about this, because it was a confirmation that stress can cause not only negative, but also positive emotions. Louise again made the professor feel like a failure. She kept asking whether the inventor of stress managed to overcome it himself. This woman even made the scientist question his discovery. The stress theory of Hans Selye did not seem to concern Louise. For example, she could safely have 3-4 hours of breakfast or a long time without money. Household troubles practically did not concern her. The scientist even began to think: "Maybe the rats have deceived me?"

Louise was a capable woman. She graduated from the University of Sorbonne with a brilliance (medical faculty), however, she refused her scientific career without the slightest hesitation, since she did not like a three-month vacation in the summer. However, she happily became the personal secretary of Selye at his request. Louisa loved the order, but she could feel comfortable even where the cleaning was done very rarely.

The most paradoxical thing was that Hans Selye's calm also spread. Next to her, he was so comfortable that he forgot about stress. Three years after the acquaintance of Hans Selye decided to marry a woman who so beneficially influenced him.

Opening of the Institute of Stress

In 1950, our hero opened his institute, of course, stress. But now he was interested in how to deal with it, rather than the body's response to external influences. Hans believed that his wife would help him find the answer to this important question. However, Louise preferred to ride with Hans on a bicycle or on an old Toyota. Lounging in her chair, resting her legs on the coffee table, she laughed at the scientist, saying that this is probably the best posture for relieving tension.

Hans Selye: books and basic concepts

While Hans and Louise sunbathed on the roof of the Institute of Stress he created, his books were translated into 17 different languages. Selye is the author of more than 1,700 scientific articles. In addition, he wrote 39 books on the nature of stress. Favorite child, which created Hans Selye, - "Stress without distress." This book is still very popular. You, probably, are curious to know what the mysterious concept was introduced in this work by Hans Selye ("distress"). It is stress that harms the body (as opposed to a useful eustress). It causes long and strong effects. Eustress is caused by the effects of moderate strength. It is even necessary for maintaining health, as it strengthens and trains the adaptive systems of the human body.

Among other books there are "Sketches about the general adaptation syndrome", "From dream to discovery", "At the level of the whole organism", etc. You are also interested in another term that Hans Selye used in the title of one of his books ("the general adaptation syndrome"). This is a scheme of the physiological response of our body to stressful situations. It is divided into the following 3 phases: anxiety, counteraction and exhaustion. When stress is prolonged or intense, the body experiences a heavy load. Again, there are symptoms that are characteristic of the first phase. The human body can no longer cope with them, and this or that physical disorder develops (for example, a stomach ulcer). This is how the adaptation syndrome of Hans Selye manifests itself. Thus, stress can cause serious illness. Hans Selye wrote a lot about this. Atherosclerosis, for example, was one of the subjects of his study. Hans Selye suggested his neurogenic (stressor) model.

Did Hans manage to find a cure for stress?

The scientist died in 1982. After his death, the theory of Hans Selye was further developed. The results of his research were cited in countless popular journals, as well as in 362,000 scientific articles. But Gans was still unable to find a cure for stress. Is it any wonder, because our life is one continuous stress.