Computing and cybernetics in CEE

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questions for particular regions @ CEE
  • introduction of personal computer
  • introduction of email in universities
  • introduction of 16mm, video
    • strong support for artists working with 16mm from the state in Poland => strong experimental film scene; video art postponed


By country

former Soviet Union

Scientists [1]
  • Sergei Lebedev. During II World War Lebedev worked in the field of control automation of complex systems; his group designed a weapon-aiming stabilization system for tanks and an automatic guidance system for airborne missiles; to perform these tasks Lebedev developed in 1945 an analog computer system to solve ordinary differential equations. After the end of the war he returned to the work of improving the stability of electrical systems; in 1948, Lebedev had found out from foreign magazines that scientists in Western countries were working on the design of electronic computers; and though the details of these works were secret, the idea fascinated him; in the autumn of the same year he decided to focus the work of his laboratory on computer design. 1946-1951 he headed the Kiev Electrotechnical Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences; Lebedev was the head of the research group in Theophania near Kiev, which created MESM, the fist digital programmable computer in Continental Europe (1950). In 1952 he became a professor at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. From 1953 until death he was the director of Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering which was later named after him; there the BESM series of computers were created. (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for the first computer in the Soviet Union) [2]
  • Viktor Glushkov, led development of Kiev, and Mir computers. (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for digital automation of computer architecture)
  • Alexei Lyapunov (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for Soviet cybernetics and programming)
  • George Lopato (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 2000 for pioneering development in Belarus of the Minsk series computers' hardware, of the multicomputer complexes and of the RV family of mobile computers for heavy field conditions) [3]
  • Gennady Stolyarov (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 2000 for pioneering development in Minsk series computers' software, of the information systems' software and applications and for data processing and data base management systems concepts dissemination and promotion)
  • Arnols Reitsakas (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for contributions to Estonia's computer age)
  • Brook
  • Bashir Rameev, chief designer of Ural series. [4] [5]
  • Matyuhin
  • Mikhail Kartsev, chief designer of M-4M series. [6] [7] [8] [9]
  • Brusentsov
  • Israel Akushsky [10]
  • Philip Staros, chief designer of UM1-NX and UM2 computers. [11]
  • Mikhail Sulim [12]
Machines [13] [14]
  • MESM (МЭСМ, Малая Электронно-Счетная Машина, Small Electronic Calculating Machine). In 1950, when the model of MESM had been tested, the only other similar working machines were Frederick Williams and Tom Kilburn's Baby and Maurice Wilkes' EDSAC in England (however, each British computer employed a sequential operational arithmetic unit, while MESM worked on parallel arithmetic units). It had about 6,000 vacuum tubes and consumed 25 kW of power; it could perform approximately 3,000 operations per minute. Dev led since 1948, by Sergei Lebedev and his main assistants, Candidates of Science Lev Naumovich Dashevsky and Ekaterina Alexeevna Shkabara, together with a team of twenty five engineers, technicians and assembly workers, all took an active part in designing, assembling, adjusting and operating the MESM. Constructed in Academy of Sciences in Minsk. When the word got out that there was an operating computer in the Ukraine, a steady parade of scientists from Kiev and Moscow headed to Feofania with scientific and defense-related problems that could not be solved without the aid of a computer -- problems from the fields of thermonuclear weapons processes (such as Yakov B. Zeldovich's work), space flights and rocket technology, long-distance electric transmission lines, mechanics, statistical quality control, and others. [15] [16]
  • BESM (БЭСМ, Большая Электронно-Счётная Машина, Large Electronic Computing Machine). Mainframe computers built in 1950-1960s. Successor to MESM. Originally planned as a prototype in Kiev, constructed in Laboratory No. 1 at the Institute for Precision Mechanics Moscow, completed in 1952, led by Lebedev. Only one machine built. The machine used approximately 5,000 vacuum tubes; at the time of completion, it was the fastest computer in Europe; the floating point numbers were represented as 39-bit words: 32 bits for the numeric part, 1 bit for sign, and 1 + 5 bits for the exponent; was capable of representing numbers in the range 10−9 – 1010; had 1024 words of read/write memory using ferrite cores, and 1024 words of read-only memory based on semiconducting diodes; also had external storage: 4 magnetic tape units of 30,000 words each, and fast magnetic drum storage with a capacity of 5120 words and an access rate of 800 words/second; was capable of performing 8–10 KFlops; the energy consumption was approximately 30 kW, not accounting for the cooling systems. In April 1953 the State commission accepted as operational the new high-speed BESM-1 computer, but it did not go into series production, because of opposition on the part of the Ministry of Machine and Instrument Building, which pushed its own weaker and less reliable machine. BESM-2 also used vacuum tubes; in 1958, BESM-2 went into series production; used also in the space-flight (the "Soyuz - Apollo" project) to calculate satellite orbits and the trajectory of the first rocket to reach the surface of the Moon (?? or BESM-6 was used for this?). BESM-3M and BESM-4 were built using transistors; their architecture was similar to that of the M-20 and M-220 series; the word size was 45 bits; 30 BESM-4 machines were built. [17] [18] [19]
  • Strela (ЭВМ "Стрела"). First mainframe computer manufactured serially in the Soviet Union. Had 6200 vacuum tubes and 60,000 semiconductor diodes; 2000 operations per second; floating-point arithmetics was based on 43-bit words with a signed 35-bit mantissa and a signed 6-bit exponent; operative Williams tube memory (RAM) was 2048 words; also had read-only semiconductor diode memory for programs; data input was from punch cards or magnetic tape; data output was to magnetic tape, punch cards or wide printer; the last version of Strela used a 4096-word magnetic drum, rotating at 6000 rpm. The chief designer was Yuri Bazilevsky, among his deputies was Boris Rameyev, chief constructor of the Ural computer series; designed at Special Design Bureau 245 (СКБ245; since 1986 Argon R&D Institute (НИИ "Аргон")) Moscow. Manufactured by the Moscow Plant of Computing-Analytical Machines (Московский завод счетно-аналитических машин) during 1953-1957 in 7 copies. Used in Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences Moscow (1955-58), Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Moscow State University, and in computing centres of some ministries (related to defense and economical planning); from Computing Centre given to the Mosfilm Studio Complex in Moscow to use on movie sets. [20] [21]
  • TsEM-1 in November 1953 (half a year after completion of Lebedev's BESM), the first sequential computer, [in Russian: Tsifrovaya Elektronnaya Mashina-1], went on-line at the Institute of Atomic Energy in Moscow and operated until 1960. [22]
  • M-20 developed by Institute for Precision Mechanics and SKB-245. Led by Lebedev, Mikhail Romanovich Shura-Bura, and Golovistikov. 20 stands for 20 thousand operations per second (fastest in the world at that time). Went into series production in 1958. On M-220, EPSILON (a macro language with high level features including strings and lists, developed by A.P. Ershov at Novosibirsk in 1967) was used to implement ALGOL 68. [23]
  • Kiev (Киев) completed under supervision of Glushkov, who became head of Lebedev's former laboratory in Kiev in 1958. The Computing Center was eventually reorganized as the Cybernetics Institute.
  • Ural (Урал). Mainframe series. Dev at the Electronic Computer Producing Manufacturer of Penza, led by Rameev. Produced between 1959 and 1964; in total 139 were made. Models Ural-1 to Ural-4 were based on vacuum tubes (valves), with the hardware being able to perform 12,000 floating-point calculations per second; a binary, single-headed device; one word consisted of 40 bits and was able to contain either one numeric value or two instructions; ferrite core was used as operative memory; a new series (Ural-11, Ural-14, produced between 1964 and 1971) was based on semiconductors. It was able to perform mathematical tasks at computer centres, industrial facilities and research facilities; the device occupied approximately 90-100 square metres of space; consumed triphasal flux (380V±10%/50Hz) and contains a triphasal magnetic voltage stabiliser with 30kVA capacity. Main units: keyboard unit, controlling-reading unit, input punched tape unit, output punched tape unit, printing unit, magnetic tape memory unit, ferrite memory unit, ALU (arithmetical logical unit), CPU (central processing unit), power supply unit and electron tubes (6N8 type). The computer was widely used in the 1960s, mainly in the socialist countries—Hungary had three, for example—though some were also exported to Western Europe and Latin America. [24]
  • Razdan (Раздан). Semiconductor computer. Dev in Yerevan in 1959.
  • Dnepr (Днепр). Semiconductor computer. Dev at the Kiev institute of cybernetics of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in 1959.
  • M-3, succeeded by Minsk-series (Минск). Family of mainframe computers was developed and produced in the Byelorussian SSR from 1959 to 1975; its further progress was stopped by a political decision of switching to IBM System/360 clone family known as ES EVM during the brief period of détente. First model of M-3 was completed in September 1959; dev led by George Lopato. The most advanced model was Minsk-32, developed in 1968; dev led by Mark Nemenman; it supported COBOL, FORTRAN and ALGAMS (a version of ALGOL); this and earlier versions also used a machine-oriented language called AKI (AvtoKod "Inzhener", i.e., "Engineer's Autocode"); it stood somewhere between the native assembly language SSK (Sistema Simvolicheskogo Kodirovaniya, or "System of symbolic coding") and higher-level languages, like FORTRAN. [25] [26] [27] [28]
  • M-4M series, led by Kartsev [29]
  • MIR (МИР, Машина для Инженерных Расчётов, Machine for Engineering Calculations). Developed from 1965 (MIR-1) to 1969 (MIR-2) in a group headed by Victor Glushkov. Designed as a relatively small-scale computer for use in engineering and scientific applications. Contained a hardware implementation of a high-level programming language capable of symbolic manipulations with fractions, polynomials, derivatives and integrals. Another innovative feature for that time was the user interface combining a keyboard with a monitor and light pen used for correcting texts and drawing on screen. [30]
  • BESM-6. The second-generation supercomputer, semiconductor-based. The most well-known and influential model of the series designed at the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering. Design completed in 1966; production started in 1968 and continued for the following 19 years til 1987 (absolute world record); 355 machines were built. Dev led by Lebedev, assisted by two of his former students – Vladimir Melnikov and Lev Korolev. Transistor-based (however, the version Elbrus-1K2 produced in 1980 as a component of the Elbrus supercomputer was built with integrated circuits, thus 2-3 times higher performance); the machine's 48-bit processor ran at 10 MHz clock speed and featured two instruction pipelines, separate for the control and arithmetic units, and a data cache of 16 48-bit words; the system achieved performance of 1 MFlops; the fastest at the time supercomputer, CDC 6600 achieved 3 MFlops utilizing one central and ten peripheral processing units; system memory was word-addressable using 15-bit addresses; maximum addressable memory space was thus 32K words (192K bytes); virtual memory system allowed to expand this up to 128K words (768K bytes). Widely used in USSR in 1970s for various computation and control tasks; version named 5E26 was used in the control system of the air defense missile complex S-300; during the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project the processing of Soyuz orbit parameters was accomplished by a BESM-6 based system in 1 minute; the same computation for the Apollo was carried out by the American side in 30 minutes. BESM-6 gathered a dedicated developer community; over the years several operating systems and compilers for programming languages such as Fortran, Algol and Pascal were developed. [31] [32]
  • Setun (Сетунь). Balanced ternary computer developed in 1958 at Moscow State University. Dev led by Nikolay Brusentsov and Sergei Sobolev. One of the first practical ternary computers, using three-valued ternary logic instead of two-valued binary logic prevalent in computers before and after Setun's conception. Built to fulfill the needs of the Moscow State University and was manufactured at the Kazan Mathematical plant. 50 computers were built and production was then halted in 1965. In the period between 1965 and 1970, a regular binary computer was then used at Moscow State University to replace it; however, although this replacement binary computer performed equally well, the device was still 2.5 times as expensive as the Setun. In 1970, a new ternary computer, the Setun-70, was designed. Named after the Setun River, which ends near Moscow University. [33] [34]
  • UM1-NX and UM2 (УМ). Dev in KB-2, dir by Philip Staros and his closest assistant, Iosef Berg. [35]
Software
  • DSSP (Dialog System for Structured Programming) is a programming language designed for Setun; it was created by students in the laboratory of Brousentsov N. P. at the Computer Science department of the Moscow State University in 1980; the 32-bit version was created in 1989. DSSP is similar to the Forth programming language; both are examples of stack-based languages; it may be seen as an early fork from Forth, yet with roots extending to the ternary logic computers like Setun. Relying on the principle of "one word of text - one word of machine code", DSSP stays very close to the actual machine in structure; it uses Reverse Polish Notation, which is a stack-oriented form of calculating. The first document in English regarding this obscure language distinguishes DSSP from Forth in the following manner: "DSSP was not invented. It was found. That is why DSSP has not versions, but only extensions. Forth is created by practice. DSSP is created by theory." [36]
Centres
  • Computing Center at the Academy of Sciences Kiev, led by Lebedev 1948-52, since 1958 by Glushkov, eventually reorganized as the Cybernetics Institute.
  • Laboratory No. 1 at the Institute for Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology Moscow, Institute dir by Lavrentiev since 1951, Lab est. March 1951 and led by Lebedev since 1952
  • Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences Moscow, est. Feb 1955, dir. academician Dorodnitsyn [37]
  • Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Computer Complexes [in Russian: Nauchno-Isledovatel'skii Institut Vuichislitel'nikh Kompleksov, or NIIVK], founded by Kartsev
  • Special Design Office [hereinafter SKB, the Russian abbr.], established in 1958 at the Ordzhonikidze plant in Minsk to support production and upgrade of produced computers.
Plus
  • since 1967: Transfer of United States High Technology to the Soviet Union and Soviet Bloc Nations[38]
Bibliography
  • Pioneers of Soviet Computing by Boris Malinovsky (edited by Anne Fitzpatrick) (full text)
    • historical and technical overview of Soviet computing developments from the 1940s through the 1970s, with social, institutional, political and economic context for these events
    • focuses mainly on certain developments in hardware and the people responsible for them. A separate manuscript that analyzes programming, algorithmic, and software innovation in the former Soviet Union awaits another scholar.
    • when Soviet government decided to copy the IBM 360 system in the 1960s instead of relying on their own enormous community of scientific and engineering talent, Lebedev, Glushkov, and several of the Soviet Union’s established computer scientists fought this directive vigilantly while trying to retain faith in their political leaders.** Slava Gerovitch, From Newspeak to Cyberspeak: A History of Soviet Cybernetics (MIT Press, 2002; pb 2004) [39]
  • Guide to the History of Russian Science, [40]
  • bibliography on Soviet and Post-Soviet Technology / Computing and Cybernetics [41]

former Czechoslovakia

Scientists
  • Norbert Frištacký (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for pioneering digital devices), Slovak
  • Ivan Plander (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for the introduction of computer hardware technology into Slovakia and the development of the first control computer)
  • Antonin Svoboda (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for the pioneering work leading to the development of computer research in Czechoslovakia and the design and construction of the SAPO and EPOS computers)
  • Jozef Gruska (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for the development of computer science in former Czechoslovakia with fundamental contributions to the theory of computing and extraordinary organizational activities)
  • Jiri Horejs (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for informatics and computer science)

Hungary

Scientists
  • Laszlo Kalmar (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for recognition as the developer of a 1956 logical machine and the design of the MIR computer in Hungary)
  • Laszlo Kozma (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for development of the 1930 relay machines, and going on to build early computers in post-war Hungary)

Poland

Scientists
  • Romuald W. Marczynski (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for pioneering work in the construction of the first Polish digital computers and contributions to fundamental research in computer architecture.
  • Antoni Kilinski (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for pioneering work in the construction of the first commercial computers in Poland, and for the development of university curriculum in computer science)

Bulgaria

Scientists
  • Lubomir Georgiev Iliev (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996, a founder and influential leader of computing in Bulgaria; leader of the team that developed the first Bulgarian computer; made fundamental and continuing contributions to abstract mathematics and software)
  • Angel Angelov (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for computer science technologies in Bulgaria)

Romania

Scientists
  • Grigore C. Moisil (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1996 for polyvalent logic switching circuits)

Austria

Scientists
  • Heinz Zemanek, (IEEE Computer Pioneer Award 1985 for computer and computer languages – MAILUEFTERL) [42]
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