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.
Activities and affiliations
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
Related historical events
Wartime corrosion-inhibitor research and organization of the atomic project
As the war created an urgent need to restore corroded military equipment, Balezin and colleagues investigated inhibitors that slowed metal dissolution in acidic cleaning solutions. According to a commemorative account by Moscow State Pedagogical University, they developed the first Soviet inhibitors within a short time; these were used in artillery workshops near the front and helped return five million units of combat equipment to service. Balezin and the research team received the Stalin Prize in 1946 for this work. The figure is reported by the university's commemorative account and is not treated here as an independently verified statistic.
In April 1942, a German officer's notebook was brought to the State Defense Committee (GKO) Scientific and Technical Council, conveying news of German military research into atomic energy. The commemorative account says that Balezin and others argued that Soviet nuclear research should continue despite wartime conditions, and that he began organizing the work under Igor Kurchatov's leadership. Balezin worked directly with Kurchatov during the first two years and was later recalled to work in the Central Committee of the Communist Party. This documents his contribution to organizing the atomic project, but does not establish that its scientific achievements were his personal accomplishment.