biology

Zinaida Yermolyeva

Zinaida Yermolyeva is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Zinaida Yermolyeva rather than just read about it. In short: Zinaida Vissarionovna Yermolyeva (Russian: Зинаида Виссарионовна Ермольева; 24 October [O.S. 12 October] 1898 – 2 December 1974) was a Soviet microbiologist of Don Cossack origin most notable for producing penicillin for the Soviet military during World War II. She was a member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences at the time of her death.

Key takeaways

Zinaida Yermolyeva belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Zinaida Yermolyeva to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Zinaida Yermolyeva from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Zinaida Vissarionovna Yermolyeva (Russian: Зинаида Виссарионовна Ермольева; 24 October [O.S. 12 October] 1898 – 2 December 1974) was a Soviet microbiologist of Don Cossack origin most notable for producing penicillin for the Soviet military during World War II. She was a member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences at the time of her death.

Career In 1921, Yermolyeva graduated from the medical faculty of Donskoy University. From 1925 on, she acted as the head of several microbiology and epidemiology institutes in Moscow. In 1925, Yermolyeva was appointed head of the Department of Microbial Biochemistry at the USSR Academy of Sciences. There, she began her research on bacteriophages and naturally occurring antimicrobial agents—lysozyme in particular. During the Second World War, she and Tamara Balezina isolated a penicillin-producing strain of Penicillium crustosum. It was first used in Soviet hospitals in 1943. In 1942, she published the results of an experiment performed on herself, where she infected herself by drinking a solution of Vibrio cholerae and recovered after treatment. The results of her research were seen as essential in preventative measures against cholera in Russia's war efforts in the Eastern Front of World War II. In 1947, Yermolyeva became the director of the newly formed Institute of Antibiotics of the USSR Ministry of Public Health. From 1952 until her death, she headed the Department of Microbiology of the Central Post-Graduate Medical Institute in Moscow (now the Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education). Yermolyeva was married to the microbiologist Lev Zilber, whose brother, the novelist Veniamin Kaverin used the career of Yermolyeva and her husband as a basis for a fictionalized account in his trilogy Open Book (1949–56). The "lively and realistic" depiction of Tatiana, the character based on Yermolyeva, popularized microbiology as a possible career among girls in the Soviet Union.

Awards and recognition

Stalin Prize (1943) Two Orders of Lenin Order of the Red Banner of Labour

Scientific interests Antibiotics Bacterial polysaccharides Biologically active substances from animal tissues Interferon Chemotherapy of infection

Scientific writing Ermolieva was the author of more than 500 papers, several books, such as "Penicillin", "Antibiotics, Bacterial Polysaccharides, Interferon" and others. She was the founder and chief editor of the Soviet journal "Antibiotiki" ("Antibiotics").

Tribute On 24 October 2018, Yermolyeva was celebrated with a Google Doodle for her achievements.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Zinaida Yermolyeva

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Zinaida Yermolyeva claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Zinaida Yermolyeva before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Zinaida Yermolyeva ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Zinaida Yermolyeva

In research: Zinaida Yermolyeva appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Zinaida Yermolyeva in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Zinaida Yermolyeva is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1898 births, 1974 deaths, 20th-century Russian biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Zinaida Yermolyeva outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Zinaida Yermolyeva in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Zinaida Yermolyeva means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Zinaida Yermolyeva out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Zinaida Yermolyeva in simple terms?

Why does Zinaida Yermolyeva matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Zinaida Yermolyeva?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Zinaida Yermolyeva.