Tamara Iosifovna Balezina: The Story of the Woman Who Discovered Soviet Penicillin

Behind great discoveries there are always people whose lives are pushed into the background, yet they can inspire new generations to new achievements. One such person is Tamara Iosifovna Balezina, who discovered the Soviet penicillin and interferon; however, her contribution to science is little known. In this article her life and previously unknown details of the discovery of the Soviet penicillin are described based on the surviving sources, as well as on the information from the archive of the Balezin family, kindly provided by the son of Tamara Iosifovna to the author. The discovery that was made during the hard days of the Great Patriotic War (World War II). The article is accompanied by the unique photographs and documents, published for the first time, as well as by the only surviving image of the culture of the fungus Penicillium crustosum collected from the air of bomb shelter located in a residential building.