Lev Vygotsky was born in 1896 in Russia. He graduated from Moscow University in 1917 and started his career as a psychologist during the Russian Revolution. He taught literature and psychology for seven years. Vygotsky went against the leading scientists of his time by suggesting that scientific psychology should not ignore the role of consciousness. Most scientists at the time disagreed with his ideas, however, he was still offered a job at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow. There he worked on his new ideas of psychology.