Kaftanov's senior assistant who did the day-to-day organizational work that launched the Soviet atomic project
"We had to summon a hundred people to Moscow, get them entry permits, find them apartments and ration cards, obtain ultra-pure iron for the cyclotron and 99% graphite for the reactor…" (Balezin recalling the frantic logistics of early 1943.)
Born to a poor peasant family and a Red Army volunteer at 14, he was a first-generation Soviet chemist. As senior assistant to GKO science plenipotentiary Sergei Kaftanov, he did the day-to-day work that launched the Soviet atomic project in 1942–43: received the German officer's 'atomic notebook' from Ilya Starinov, arranged its translation and recognized its significance; reviewed Georgy Flyorov's letters; was the first to screen Igor Kurchatov and then brought him to Kaftanov. With Kurchatov he scouted buildings for Laboratory No. 2, secured Moscow entry permits, housing and ration cards for about a hundred scientists, and drafted the Ioffe-Kaftanov petition that led to the 28 September 1942 GKO resolution. He later returned to the Lenin Pedagogical Institute, where he built a scientific school of metal corrosion inhibitors and trained 80 doctoral candidates.
Career Timeline
- 1919–1924Teacher, orphanage director, Komsomol organizer in Birsk district
- 1925–1932Herzen Pedagogical Institute, Institute of Red Professors, Karpov Institute researcher
- 1936–1938Head of physical and colloid chemistry, Kuibyshev Medical Institute
- 1938–1941Chemistry head at Lenin Pedagogical Institute; head of universities dept, Higher Education Committee
- 1941–1943Senior assistant to GKO plenipotentiary for science: atomic project launch
- 1944–1948Deputy head, universities and scientific institutions dept, CC VKP(b)
- 1948–1967Head of general and analytical chemistry, Lenin Pedagogical Institute; founded corrosion inhibitors lab
- 1967–1982UNESCO advisor for Indian education reform; editorial board chair, Chemistry in School