Zinaida Yermolyeva

The scientist I picked for this discussion is Zinaida Yermolyeva, also known as “Mrs. Penicillin”, one of the founders of Russian microbiology. In 1922, her town was facing a cholera epidemic and she chose to perform experiments on herself. She purposely drank contaminated water and fell ill, and as a result of this experiment modern water chlorination standards were created. Later in life, she worked in Afghanistan where she helped create better methods for diagnosing cholera and created drugs for this and many other illnesses. During WW2, her bacteriophage and water chlorination efforts stopped the epidemic in Stalingrad that was introduced by German troops. Zinaida Yermolyeva is most known for the creation of the first Russian antibiotic, as a result, she was given the nickname “Mrs. Penicillin” by Howard Florey, the creator of penicillin. 

 

Link: https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ermoleva-zinaida-1898-1974

 

-Morgan