Elizabeth Lee Hazen Rachel Fuller Brown
They weren’t famous professors.
They didn’t work in fancy labs.
In fact, Rachel Fuller Brown, a chemist in Albany, and Elizabeth Lee Hazen, a microbiologist in New York City, never even worked in the same room.
But what they did share was persistence, trust, and a common mission — to find a cure hidden in the most overlooked places: the soil beneath our feet.
Elizabeth would collect microbes from dirt samples across the country and mail them to Rachel. Rachel would test them — one by one — for any antifungal properties. Over time, hundreds of tiny vials traveled through the U.S. postal system in what became a groundbreaking long-distance collaboration.
Then, one humble sample from Virginia changed everything.
They discovered nystatin — the first safe and effective antifungal drug for humans.
It treated infections like candidiasis, athlete’s foot, and life-threatening fungal diseases that had no cure until then.
But nystatin did more than heal people.
It also protected ancient manuscripts, paintings, trees, and priceless works of art from fungal decay. It became a silent guardian not just in hospitals — but in museums and libraries too.
And the fortune they could’ve made?
They donated all of it.
With the royalties from their discovery, Brown and Hazen created a fund to support future scientists — especially young ones, just starting out. No headlines. No awards. Just a lasting legacy.
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