Pioneers among Pioneers: The Founders of Soviet Computer Technology
Between 1940 and 1970 Soviet computer technology developed rapidly. During this time the most famous Soviet computer science schools were founded by Sergei Alexeevich Lebedev, Victor Mikhailevich Glushkov, Isador Semenovich Brook, and Bashir Iskandarovich Rameev. But Lebedev was truly a unique individual. He possessed an extraordinary brilliance that reigned over the field of computer science from the time of the very first vacuum tube computers, performing mere thousands of operations per second were conceived, to the time of super high-speed computers based on semiconductors followed by computers based on integrated circuits were used every day. Fifteen high-production computers, the most complex machines of their time, were completed under his guidance. Each of them was a new step in computer technology, more reliable and more user-friendly.
From 1948–1951, at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (ASU), Lebedev directed the design and development of the first stored program computer in continental Europe. Although Lebedev named this machine the Small Electronic Computer [in Russian: Malaya Elektronnaya Schetnaya Mashina, or MESM], it incorporated six thousand tubes and could hardly fit into the left wing of a two-story building of a former Orthodox monastery near Kiev, where it was assembled. There, in the Kiev suburb of Feofania, a branch of the Kiev psychiatric hospital used to operate before the Second World War. When the Nazis reached Feofania in 1941, they murdered all the patients and established a military hospital. The building was badly damaged during the liberation of Kiev. In 1948, it was given in this condition to the Academy of Sciences Institute of Electrical Engineering to be used as a laboratory. It was not easy to get to Feofania by bus, because the roads during the spring and autumn were practically impassable. In the summer, however, Feofania, enclosed by a grove of oak-trees, became a beautiful spot teeming with songbirds, rabbits, and an abundance of mushrooms and berries.
I met Sergei Alexeevich for the first time in autumn of 1950 at one of the conferences of the Electrical Engineering Institute council. There was nothing striking or unusual in his appearance or manner. He was short, thin and wore black-framed glasses that made his face look harsher than it actually was. His voice was loud, a bit hoarse, but even. He conducted the conference in a quiet and business-like manner, listening attentively to the speakers. His remarks were usually brief. If someone told a good joke, he laughed loudly and infectiously.
When a smile came over Sergei Alexeevich's typically serious face, it was like a burst of sunlight appearing in a dark room. His face would become kind, childlike, sweet and unguarded. Since Sergei Alexeevich rarely smiled, those who had never seen his smile had no idea about how much gentleness and humanity he possessed.[1]
Sergei Alexeevich Lebedev was born November 2, 1902 in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, to a family of a teacher. His parents believed that a teacher must serve as a role model for his pupils as well as for the children of his own family. The main principles of Sergei Alexeevich's upbringing were honesty, integrity, impeccable work ethic, and intolerance for pettiness and subservient attitude. These early influences shaped the personalities of Sergei Alexeevich and the other Lebedev children.
In 1923, Lebedev entered the Baumann Technical Institute in Moscow. There, he immediately became absorbed in science. He majored in the field of high voltage technology and wrote his senior thesis on "The Stability of Parallel Work of Electric Power Stations." This was an important paper of great scientific and practical importance.
Having received his Diploma with a degree in Electrical Engineering in April, 1928, Lebedev simultaneously became a teacher at the Baumann Institute and a junior research worker at the V. I. Lenin State Electrical Engineering Institute (VEI). He quickly became a head of a research group at VEI and later ran the Laboratory of Electrical Power Networks. In 1933, together with A.S. Zhdanov, he published a monograph titled The Stability of Parallel Work of Electrical Systems, which in 1934 was revised and republished. A year later the State Higher Diploma Commission [in Russian: Vuishaya Attestatsionaya Kommissiya, or VAK] honored the young scientist with a professor's post. In 1939, Lebedev, not even a Candidate of Science yet, successfully defended his doctoral thesis.[2] The premise for his study was his own theory of artificial stability of power systems.
Sergei Alexeevich worked in Moscow for almost twenty years, during the last ten of which he supervised VEI's automation department. Before the Great Patriotic War [Second World War], VEI had been one of the most famous scientific research institutions and many distinguished scientists had worked there. The automation department was working on power systems control, automatic control theory, new means of automation, and telemechanics. The institute was connected to a powerful industrial base that incorporated research results directly into practice.
Almost every project in the field of power engineering developed by the institute's scientists required elaborate computing facilities, either to make calculations for the work itself or to include them in the range of computing devices. Thus, calculations on the 9600 Megawatt, one thousand-kilometer-long electric power line – the Kiubyshev-Moscow hydroelectric project – demanded a highly automated set of powerful inductors and capacitors to simulate the mathematical model of the line. The simulations were done in one of the buildings on Nogin Square in Moscow. The second version of the model was made in Sverdlovsk. A specialized analog computing device used for these models permitted scientists to make the calculations very quickly and then set project assignments for specific electrical power lines.
During the Great Patriotic War, Lebedev developed a stabilization system for tank guns that was immediately adopted on the battlefield. Nobody knows how many tank crews were saved by this system, which allowed a tank gun to aim and fire while in motion. This feature made the Russian tank less vulnerable, and Lebedev was awarded the Order of Red Labor and a medal "For Valiant Labor During the Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945."
During the war it was necessary to develop analog computing elements to carry out basic arithmetic operations as well as differentiation and integration calculations for the tank gun stabilization system and the automatic guided missile system. In 1945, Lebedev created a simple analog computer to solve ordinary sets of differential equations found in power engineering problems. Lebedev also recognized the value of the binary system in computing. Lebedev's wife, Alisa Grigorievna, remembered the first months of the war, when during the dark Moscow evenings her husband sat in the bathroom and worked by the light of an oil lamp, scribbling the 1's and 0's of binary operations. Vsevolod Vianorovich Bardizh, Lebedev's deputy in the laboratory where the BESM (in Russian, Bistrodeistvuyshaya Electronnaya Shetnaya Mashina, or Big Electronic Calculating Machine) was created, is convinced that if not for the war, Lebedev would have developed a computer employing binary arithmetic much earlier; Sergei Alexeevich agreed with this assessment as well.
Professor Anatoly Vladimirovich Netushil, of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, confirms Lebedev's pre-war interest in digital computing:
The culmination of my research was my doctoral dissertation on "Analysis of Flip-Flop Elements of High-Speed Pulse Counters." It is well known that later, electronic flip-flop triggers became the basic elements in computer technology. From the very beginning of this thesis work in 1939, Lebedev had expressed a great interest and approval in my research. He agreed to act as an opponent of the dissertation, which I defended in 1945. At that time, nobody even suspected that Lebedev had been formulating ideas for the creation of digital computers, which made his name immortal.
The design documentation and materials concerning the MESM are still kept at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kiev. Many of the documents were written by Lebedev himself. Someone's caring hand marked them with – "To Keep Forever" – over forty years ago. Some of the excerpts are included here. In a short message sent to the Coordinating Council of the Academy of Science of the Soviet Union in early 1957, Lebedev wrote:
I began experimenting with high-speed electronic computers at the end of 1948. Between 1948 and 1949, I developed the basic principles of building similar computers. Considering the computer's great significance in our economic growth and the absence of experience in computer construction and operation in the Soviet Union, I decided to quickly create a small electronic computer, which would help investigate the basic principles of computer building, examine strategies for solving of associated problems, and gain experience in computer operation. We initially planned to create a working model of the machine and then develop it into a small electronic computer. To prevent delays, it was necessary to make a memory bank on flip-flop cells, which limited memory capacity. The development of the basic elements was completed in 1948. The general components of the machine and principal circuit diagrams for its units were finished at the end of 1949. By the end of 1950, the final adjustments on the working model were done and it was successfully presented before a commission.
Two months after the demonstration of the model, Lebedev made a report at a closed session of the Scientific Council at the Institute of Electrical and Heat Power Engineering. The minutes of the session were preserved in the archive of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Considering the great importance of this document in the history of computer technology, it is included here unabridged:
Top SecretMinutes of Session No. 1 of the closed Scientific Council of the ASU Institute of Electronic Technology and Heat-Power Engineering on January 8th, 1951.Present: Invited: Institute of Mathematics: Institute Director, active member of the ASU, A.U. Ishlinsky, Chief of Departments, I.B. Pogrebisky, Doctor of Technical Science, S.G. Krain. Institute of Electro-Technology: co-workers of the Simulation and Modifications Laboratory (Laboratory Chief S.A. Lebedev), Candidates of Science L.N. Dashevsky and E. A. Shkabara, Junior Assistant Scientific Co-worker Z. L. Rabinovich, Engineer S. B. Pogrebinsky, Co-worker of the Automation Laboratory, Candidate of Science, G.K. Nechaev. Agenda: 1. The Calculation-Solving Electronic Machine (Report of Director of the ASU Institute of Electro-Technology, ASU Acting Member, S.A. Lebedev). Heard: Principles of Operation of a high-performance machine are principles of arithmetic. The basic goal for this machine is the acceleration and automation of calculations. The laboratory was given the task of creating a working prototype of an electronic, high-performance computing machine. In the development of the prototype, we accepted certain limitations. The speed of computing was equal to 100 operations per second. The number of bits was limited to five in the decimal system (16 bits in the binary system). The machine can add, subtract, multiply, divide and execute other operations, such as compare, shift, and stop, allowing for the possibility of adding other functions. The basic element of the electronic counting machine is the one that allows for summation. Electronic relays are used (trigger cells), in which the current is switched from one electronic tube to another by means of a pulse-feed on a grid. This permits summing, from which all other operations are formed. Instead of a decimal system, a binary system is used, which is defined by the characteristics of the trigger cells (S.A. Lebedev uses a flow-chart to clarify how the machine works). In addition to the computing elements, the machine must have other elements that govern the calculation process, such as enabling devices and memory elements. In 1951 the laboratory was given the task to turn the prototype into a working machine. Up until now, the obstacle has been the absence of automatic devices of data input and automatic output of received results. The automation of these operations will be realized with the help of magnetic tape, which has been developed by the Institute of Physics (in the laboratory of ASU member correspondent A.A. Kharkevich). Questions presented: N.N. Dobrokhotov: What other computing machines will be developed in the USSR, and if they are being developed, on what principle? A.I. Petrov: What is the field of application of the machine? A.U. Ishlinsky: 1) What is the operating life of machine elements? 2) What is the reliability of the machine, in case of element failure? 3) How did you manage to use foreign technical materials? 4) What are the qualifications of the operators? G.K. Nechaev: What is the correlation between calculation time and output (input) of the task in the automatic work of the machine? I.T. Shvetz: 1) What is the state of development of electronic counting machines at other institutes? 2) What about the situation abroad and what are their parameters compared to ours? 3) Who developed the trigger cells, how long ago, and where else are they being used? 4) How do the ASU Institute of Mathematics, ASU Institute of Physics and the ASUSSR [Academy of Sciences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics] Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology participate in this complex? L.I. Tsukernik: What original solutions have been incorporated in the machine by the ASU Institute of Electro-Technology? S.G. Krain: What tasks will the developed and automated machine be able to perform? S.A. Lebedev: I am going to group similar questions together. I have data on 18 machines developed by the Americans. This data has the character of an advertisement, without any kind of information on how the machines are built. As to the question of constructing computing machines, we must catch up with the developments abroad and must do so quickly. In the available foreign literature, the project design and construction of a machine takes five to ten years, but we want to complete construction in two years. Parameters of the American machines are as follows: multiplication time on the ENIAC is 5.5 milliseconds, on the EDVAC- 4 milliseconds, and on our machine 8-9 milliseconds. Beside the Academy of Sciences Institute of Electro-Technology, work on developing such machines is going on at: a) the SKB-245 Ministry of Machine and Instrument Construction; where they started developing a machine using mechanical relays, but have now switched to using electronics; b) the ASU Energy Institute, where they use trigger cells; c) the AS-USSR Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology, in conjunction with our work.[3] This machine is quite like the MESM, but has been intended for high-performance, more so than the existing American machines. The operation time on this machine will be equal to 0.2 milliseconds.[4] The principal addition to our machine is the new summing element, plus the resolution of the issues of integrating separate machine elements. The machine's basic construction principle was using only proven, well-known elements, and this is also true of the trigger circuitry. There are numerous applications for the machine. In theory, all problems that can be simplified into a numerical format can be solved with this machine. It can also solve differential equations and produce calculation tables. Another benefit of these machines is the ability to perform the same calculations with varying input data (e.g. calculation of guided missile trajectories). The appearance of electronic calculating machines also allows applying new mathematical methods to solve statistical physics problems. Taking advantage of experience from abroad is difficult, since published material is so scarce. We need three types of employees to work on the machine: mathematicians (for program coding); operators (for trouble-shooting the machine); and those able to do both jobs. The real-time data input and results/output time of the machine are equal to the operation cycle time. The Academy of Sciences Institute of Mathematics participates in the joint development of programming problems, while the ASU Institute of Physics participates in the development of magnetic recording. The increase in machine reliability will be realized with preliminary tube testing. Failure of any of the machine elements can be easily detected. Presenters: A.U. Ishlinsky: Creation of a prototype is one of the most impressive achievements of the Department of Technological Science and of S.A. Lebedev's. There is no need to discuss the significance of the machine. The presence of the electronic machine removes much of the difficulty and will help bypass application of those calculation methods currently being employed. It's clear that such machines will be widely used in defense industry as well as in science. The design of such a machine is a great achievement in science. In the future, the machine will not have to be loaded with the same type of calculations meant for applied purposes. On the contrary, with its help, scientific research work will be carried out. N.N. Dobrokhotov: The importance of conducting research on the calculation machine is quite evident. The task of the ASU is to design a machine better than those existing abroad. In order to ensure that, it is necessary to organize an exchange of opinions, as well as discussions about the crucial points of the machine design. It is imperative to discuss the work on a nation-wide scale. S.E. Teitelbaum: It is necessary to considerably extend the staff and the material base to speed up of such important work. S.G. Krain: The utilization of an electronic machine will allow us to apply a number of new technological methods. To facilitate this, we must intensify and maximize our research efforts. I.T. Shvetz: Lebedev's report, now presented, brings about a feeling of satisfaction and pride in our Academy of Science. The work on electronic computing machines is related to some of the most important work of the ASU. It is necessary to assist the development of such work and to accelerate the machine's performance to the highest degree. These are the shortcomings: 1) S.A. Lebedev does not advocate making this work priority for the ASU. 2) There is not enough interaction between different institutes and we need to ensure closer cooperation between the ASU Institutes of Mathematics and Physics. 3) We should not use the term "logic operation" with respect to the machine because the machine cannot make logic operations. We'd better substitute this term for another. Of course I believe that the scope of work should be increased, but this is not the most important work at the ASU. One also needs to keep in mind that the financial allotment to the ASU in 1951 will decrease. We should consider in detail what we need to ask for from the Presidium of the ASU for the quickest fulfillment of the work. S.A. Lebedev: I must stress the high importance of work on computing machines. Let's take the following example: the only effective method to intercept a long-range rocket is to send an anti-missile rocket. To accomplish this, we need to determine the possible point of interception. The application of a calculation machine will allow us to compute the rocket trajectory and ensure a precise hit. In accordance with the governmental order, the design for the machine project will be finished in the first quarter of 1951. This schematic project will be submitted to a panel of experts for a comprehensive evaluation. I agree that we should encourage closer cooperation with the ASU Institute of Mathematics and Physics. We have connections with the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology not only in the financial area (though that is important because it provides for the possibility of creating a prototype) but also in the scientific field. With respect to the use of this computer, MESM, for calculations, it will be difficult to refuse those who need it; we are compelled to do this because MESM is the only working computer in the USSR at this time. Resolved: 1) To note that the work of the ASU Institute of Technology—under supervision of ASU member S.A. Lebedev—on an electronic computing machine are quite up-to-date and are of great scientific and practical importance to the USSR's defense, as well as scientific research work in many disciplines. 2) To recommend to S.A. Lebedev that he apply to the ASU Presidium, requesting funding for further development of Soviet computing machines, to considerably accelerate the work and extend the experimental base in Feofania, to prepare necessary staff, and to assure the necessary participation of other ASU Institutes in this work. 3) Considering the complex character of the work carried out by the ASU Institute of Electro-Technology jointly with the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology, and ASU Institutes of Mathematics and Physics, it would be expedient to lay out a plan for the most efficient collaborative research and design work based on the complex participation of the Ukrainian and Soviet scientific institutions, along with the Ministry of Device Manufacturing and Machine Building of the USSR. Chairman of the Scientific Council, Active-Member of ASU I.T. Shvetz |
There is another very important document, written by Lebedev in his daily notes, that will enable us to present the chronology and stages of the design of the first Soviet computer—the MESM.
Secret Draft
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1. October-December 1948 |
Development of the general construction principles for an electronic calculating machine. |
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2. January–March 1949 |
The general guidelines are set for the development of separate elements. Seminars on computing machines with the representatives of the ASU Institutes of Mathematics and Physics. |
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3. March–April 1949 |
Development of triggers on the 6N9M and 6N15 vacuum tubes. Development of logic units. Development of pulse generators. Development of counters on 6N15 vacuum tubes. |
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4. May–June 1949 |
Development of arithmetic units in 6N15 tubes (1st version). Transfer to the new location and set up of the laboratory. |
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5. July–September 1949 |
Development of arithmetic units for 6N9 tubes (2nd version). Development of static memory elements. Development of the electronic switchboard. |
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6. October–December 1949 |
Creation of the main blueprints for the machine prototype. Development of general machine design. Construction and preparation of the machine's frame. |
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7. January–March 1950 |
Development and preparation of separate units and their debugging. Development and preparation of the machine's control panel. |
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8. April–July 1950 |
Development of technical requirements for magnetic memory. Installation of the machine units in its frame and assembly of inter-unit connections. Assembly of connections between frame and control panel. Repairing the interface between frame units and group units. Work on magnetic memory in ASU Institute of Physics. Establishing a branch of the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology in Kiev. |
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9. August–November 1950 |
Debugging the computer from the control panel. First start-up test of the machine prototype (Nov 6, 1950). |
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10. November–December 1950 |
Increase the quantity of memory blocks to enlarge the memory unit capacity. Refining operations: addition and subtraction. Refining operations: multiplication and comparison. |
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11. January–February 1951 |
Demonstration (January 4, 1951) of the operating prototype to the State Commission. Drafting of the act for the completion of work on the prototype. During the demonstration of the prototype, resolved a problem of computing the sums of a series of odd-numbered factorials raised to a degree. Begin the conversion of the prototype to a working computer (MESM). |
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12. March–May 1951 |
Development of a system of constants and commands. Introduction of the photographic recording of results. Development of magnetic memory control systems. Launching the system of constants and commands. Presentation of the operating computer to the government commission and the commission of experts. |
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13. June–August 1951 |
Adaptation of the device for separating punched cards for initial data input. Integration of new units for implementation of summing operation commands, input of sub-programs, and connections with the magnetic recording of code. Assembly and debugging of magnetic memory control systems. Issuing of the government resolution (No. 2759–1321 from July 1, 1951), mandating the Electronic (MESM) computer to come on line by the fourth quarter of 1951. |
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14. August–November 1951 |
Refinement of division and other operations. Alteration of memory units to increase reliability. Completing alteration on the small machine prototype and general testing before start-up. |
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15. December 1951 |
Start-up of the Small Electronic Machine (MESM) (December 25, 1951). Solution of a real problem on the machine: computing a probability distribution function.
585 values of "p" were calculated to five places, for which nearly 250,000 operations were made. Calculations were conducted in 2.5 hours and used to establish a computation table. Based on that table, values for defining and increasing the accuracy of artillery weapons were determined. |
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16. January 1952 |
Report by acting ASU member, S.A. Lebedev (January 4, 1952) at the AS-USSR Presidium on ratifying the motion to place the Small Electronic Counting Machine (MESM) into service. Report by acting ASU member S.A. Lebedev (January 11, 1952) at the ASU Presidium on placing MESM into service. |
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January 12, 1952 |
Fulfillment of orders for calculations on MESM. Computation of the function:
2100 values for x were found, which required more than a million operations. |
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January 25, 1952 |
Calculation of the function:
850 values for x were calculated and one million operations were required. Debugging and placing into operation the magnetic memory system. Completion of calculations on the stability of the Kiubyshev-Moscow High-Power Electro-Transmission System. |
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18. June–September 1952 |
Increase the number of computer digits from 16 to 20 to improve the precision of calculations to 6 decimal places. |
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19. October–November 1952 |
Solved the harmonization problem of the synchronous power generators at the Kuibyshev Hydroelectric Station per by the Main Volga Hydroelectric Plant request. Similar calculations were programmed at the request of other state organizations for important projects of communism. |
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Principal Constructor of the Electronic Calculating Machine |
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[1] Lev N. Dashevsky, and Ekaterina A. Shkabara, Kak eto nachinalos'(Moskva: Znanie, 1981), passim.
[2] Editor's and Translator's note: VAK was the highest scientific certifying body in the Soviet Union. After defending either a Candidate of Science thesis or a Doctor of Science thesis at a special scientific council attached to an educational institution, one then had to send the thesis to VAK in Moscow. Only after VAK approval could one then receive a scientific certification such as the title of Professor. In the Soviet Union, there were three levels of scientific accomplishment. The first, Specialist, required one to graduate after 5–6 years at a university and defend one's diploma work. The second, Candidate of Science, required 2 or 3 years study as a post-graduate, followed by successful defense of one's Candidate's Thesis before a special scientific council, and finally, an obligatory approval by VAK. This is often considered equivalent to a Ph.D. or Doctoral level in the west. The third level was the Doctoral Degree. To become a Doctor of Science, one usually had to firmly establish a new scientific direction or school. This required at least three years and a successful Doctoral thesis defense, followed by VAK approval.
[3] Translator's note: In Russian, Institut Tochnoi Mekhaniki i Vyichislite'lnoi Tekhniki, or ITMVT.
[4] Author's Note: This was Lebedev's reference to the BESM, his future computer.