History of the organizational and managerial activities of the Soviet microbiologist Zinaida Vissarionovna Ermolyeva

The study aims to reconstruct the organizational and managerial aspect in the scientific biography of Zinaida Vissarionovna Ermolyeva (1898-1974), a prominent Soviet microbiologist who produced the first Soviet antibiotic penicillin. The paper analyzes Ermolyeva’s work leading various scientific units and institutions: the Department of Microbial Biochemistry at the A. N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, followed by the A. M. Gorky All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine, the Institute of Biological Prophylaxis of Infections, and the Department of Microbiology at the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Training. The study is novel in that it is the first one to shed light on the role of Z. V. Ermolyeva as an organizer of science and a leader of a scientific team, based on the analysis of a number of unpublished documents from three federal archives. As a result of the study, Ermolyeva’s scientific-organizational activity has been reconstructed and it has been established that for half a century her professional activity was associated not only with research in the field of microbiology and medicine, but also with the successful organization of Soviet science within academic and educational institutions, where she managed to create cohesive teams of talented researchers who made a significant contribution to the development of Soviet microbiology and medicine.