Lev Vygotsky was born on November 17, 1896 in the town of Orsha, Russia (now Belarus), near Vitebsk, in a prosperous Jewish family, the second of a family of eight children. Before their first birthday, his family moved to the city of Gomel, where he grew up. In his teens, was a fan of theater and decides to rewrite his name Vygotsky, instead of Vígodski ("Vigoda" means "benefit" in Russian). In 1915 he wrote an essay on Hamlet.It fits in medicine and then law at the University of Moscow, finishing both races in 1917, and graduated in 1918. Then, go back to the city of Gomel, with a longing difficult to fulfill: to teach psychology and literature. It is at that moment, when, because of the October Revolution, abolishing all forms of discrimination against Jews. From this fact, he begins to be linked to political activity.His diverse activities make it the center of intellectual and cultural activity in Gomel. Teaches language arts at the School of Labor to the workers, teaches psychology and logic at the Pedagogical Institute, Aesthetics and Art History at the Conservatory, manages the theater section of a newspaper and founded a literary magazine. It is at this time that is devoted to reading Marx and Engels, Spinoza and Hegel, Freud, Pavlov and Potebnia (linguist in Kharkov)In 1919 he contracted tuberculosis and in 1920 he was interned in a sanatorium. However, sensing that his life will be brief, this situation can strengthen their morale.In the Pedagogical Institute creates a psychology laboratory to study children in kindergartens. From here you get material for his book "Educational Psychology" in 1926.In 1924, Vygotsky marries Rosa N. Sméjova (d. 1979), whose union will be born two sons: Gita L. and A.L. Vígodskaya.Vygotsky introduced in 1924, at 2 Psiconeurología All-Russian Congress in Leningrad, an essay on research methods reflexological and psychological insight later on topic "Consciousness as a problem of behavioral psychology." These investigations produced a strong impression on Kornilov, head of the Marxist tendency in psychology and director of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Moscow.Later, Vygotsky worked at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow with Lúriya and Leont'ev, who were a little younger than him and, later, acquire global recognition. They sought to reformulate the psychological theory based on the Marxist view, devising instructional strategies that allow to fight against illiteracy and of disabilities, a condition attributed in that time, those children considered "abnormal" or "difficult" in which included situations such as being left-handed or mentally retarded.In 1925, Vygotsky created a laboratory of abnormal child psychology, processed, then at the Institute of Experimental Defectology People's Commissariat for Education, the same one he will have the task of chairing.In the spring of 1925, is the delegate to the International Congress on Education of the Deaf to be held in England. He took the opportunity to visit Germany, the Netherlands, and France.Back in the USSR, go to the hospital for a severe relapse of tuberculosis, when you finish your thesis Psychology of Art, which is defended in the fall, but it will not get edited. Again, it is admitted to the hospital in 1926, write an essay on "The historical significance of the crisis in psychology", not able to publish text.Then his health improved and he takes a long research activity with their students, emerging from a new conception of the psyche and cultural history of education in psychology, social sciences, education and defectology. However, these works are only partially published.

In Vygotsky's work are present several concepts that are particularly relevant theoretical positions, such as psychological tools, mediation and internalization, among others. One of the most important concepts on which he worked and which gave its name is known as the Zone of Proximal Development, which includes in its theory of learning and development path. On the other hand, watched his work throughout his life other issues such as:

• The origin and development of higher mental functions
• The philosophy of science
• Methodology of psychological research
• The relationship between learning and human development
• The conceptual training
• The relationship between language and thought
• The psychology of art
• The game is understood as a psychological phenomenon
• The study of learning disorders
• abnormal human development