Cheptsov's version: penicillin was invented in Slobodskoy

      Although it is well known from the school curriculum that the first discoverer of the harmful effects of Penicillium notatum on gram-positive bacteria was recognized in 1928 as the English scientist Alexander Fleming. Later, in 1942, the "Soviet" penicillin was created under the guidance of the outstanding microbiologist Zinaida Yermolyeva. By the way, two years later, in 1944, employees of Oxford University conducted a comparison of "English" and "Soviet" penicillins in Moscow, and ours turned out to be more effective: it showed the same therapeutic effect at a lower dosage compared to the English one.

      However, Cheptsov has his own version on this matter. Of course, with the best intentions — to increase the number of tourists in our "penicillin" region. And if the microphone did not capture any laughter or even suppressed chuckles from the hosts, one might assume that the recording of the monologue by the "tourism chief" was made on April 1. But since Cheptsov's speech is dated to the end of May, his statement about the surgeon became a hot "tourist news" for that publishing holding.

      However, local "sharks of the pen and monitor" often demonstrated deep knowledge of many topics, for example, asking the songwriters — bearded uncles in black and gold caftans — about their impressions from their first visit to... Russia. And if the well-fed Belarusian men, for whom Russia was their homeland from birth, simply remained silent to avoid being rude, then the joke about the "sloboda inventor of penicillin" performed by Cheptsov left an indelible impression.

      But if we assume that Alexey Cheptsov's statement, confusing the London hospital of St. Mary with a county sloboda clinic, is a marketing move to increase tourist flow, then the dubiousness of his "discovery" will only attract those who do not mind spending time and money on such a "medical-historical tour." Although Kirov does have its "penicillin history": in 1944, the All-Union Research Institute of Microbiology of the USSR Ministry of Defense established industrial production of "Soviet penicillin." However, the Soviet creator of penicillin — Zinaida Yermolyevna — was born in the Volgograd region and has no direct relation to our region.

      Vyatka-Turkish Brothers

      However, from the tale about the discovery of Vyatka penicillin, one can still draw a "consolation conclusion" that Alexey Cheptsov is a worthy student of the "chief," behind whom there are significantly more "historical discoveries," even contradicting the chronicle of events, than his "tourist follower."

      For example, calculating empirically that the landing of the ushkuyniks on Vyatka land happened not in June 1374, but in September (although walking on autumn slush and ice not on icebreakers, but under sail and with oars is not particularly exciting), the beloved bright City Day for Kirov residents was moved by gubernatorial decree to the gloomy September days. Also, thanks to the efforts of the "chief Kirov historian with Kostroma roots," the Vyatka berry was renamed to "clubnika," and the pie "kishchnik" was presented as stuffed intestines, which the Turks consider their gastronomic heritage.

      So there is a high probability that excursions into our past will continue. And another official, driven by a passion for loud nonsense, will attribute to the region the authorship of the "first Eugene Onegin," supposedly found in the drafts of a Vyatka gymnasium student, will discover that the Black Square is a trial brushstroke of an Urzhum seminarian, and that it was not Marine Lee Harvey Oswald who shot Kennedy, but, for example, a stableman from the village of Osa in the Kotelnichsky district.