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Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev - full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes, Hero socialist labor, chief designer of the first BESM electronic computer in the USSR and Europe and a number of other supercomputers. One of the initiators of the formation of the specialty "Computer Engineering" at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute.

Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev was born on November 2, 1902 in Nizhny Novgorod. Mother Anastasia Petrovna (nee Mavrina) left a rich noble estate to become a teacher in educational institution for girls from poor families. Alexei Ivanovich Lebedev, Sergei's father, worked at a weaving factory.

In 1921 Lebedev S.A. Entered the Electromechanical Faculty of Moscow State Technical University. While studying S.A. Lebedev attended lectures by prominent electrical engineers of that time: K.A. Kruga, L.I. Sirotinsky, A.A. Glazunov. In the graduation project, completed under the guidance of Krug K.A., Lebedev developed a new problem at that time - the stability of the parallel operation of power plants. The content of the project went far beyond student work. It was a serious work of great scientific and practical importance.

Having received an electrical engineer diploma in April 1928, S.A. Lebedev attended lectures by prominent electrical engineers of the time. S.A. Lebedev began working as a junior researcher at the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute. Before the war, VEI was one of the most famous research institutes, where a number of world-famous scientists worked. Soon S.A. Lebedev headed the group, and then the laboratory of electrical networks. VEI S.A. Lebedev together with P.S. Zhdanov, A.A. Grodsky dealt with the problem of energy systems management. He was one of the first scientists to start modeling power systems and ensure that generators do not fall out of synchronism. Then he began to use analog computers for mathematical modeling power systems.

Since 1930 S.A. Lebedev teaches at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute. In 1933, together with P.S. Zhdanov published the first monograph in the world literature on the theory of stability of electrical systems, which was supplemented and republished in 1934. A year later, the Higher Attestation Commission awarded the young scientist the title of professor. In 1939 S.A. Lebedev defended his doctoral dissertation without being a candidate of science. It was based on the theory of artificial stability of energy systems developed by him.

From 1943 to 1948, he headed the Department of Relay Protection and Automation of Power Systems at MPEI. S.A. Lebedev developed the fundamentals of the doctrine of hierarchical processes in regulated systems. The first course of lectures "Mathematical machines of discrete action" S.A. Lebedev read in 1950-1952.

Before the war, Sergei Alekseevich switched to defense topics: he was engaged in the development of homing torpedoes and missiles. In September 1941, Sergei Alekseevich was evacuated from VEI to Sverdlovsk. While in Sverdlovsk, he quickly developed a system for stabilizing a tank gun when aiming, adopted for service. For this work, S.A. Lebedev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945".

In 1946 S.A. Lebedev moved to Kyiv and began building computers. Under his leadership in 1948-1950. developed the first in the USSR and Europe small electronic calculating machine(MESM). In 1952 S.A. Lebedev returns to Moscow and heads the Institute of Fine Mechanics and computer science. In 1953 he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1957, he participated in the launch of the Earth satellite. He created a series of large electronic calculating machines (from BESM-1 to BESM-4), and in 1964 he developed BESM-6, which allowed our country to reach the world level in the development of second-generation computers. The BESM-6 model was put into trial operation in 1965, and already in the middle of 1967 the first model of the machine was submitted for testing. The State Commission chaired by M.V. Keldysh, at that time the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which received BESM-6, gave the machine appreciated.

On the basis of BESM-6, centers for collective use, real-time control systems, coordinating and computing teleprocessing systems, etc. were created. It was used to model the most complex physical and control processes, as well as in design systems for the development of software for new computers. The fundamental technical solutions adopted during its creation provided it with an enviable longevity: BESM-6 was produced by the industry for 17 years!

During the Soviet-American space flight "Soyuz-Apollo" control was carried out by a new computer complex, which included BESM-6 and other powerful computers of domestic production, developed by students of S.A. Lebedev. The main participants in the development of BESM-6 (S.A. Lebedev, V.A. Melnikov, L.N. Korolev, L.A. Zak, V.N. Laut, A.A. Sokolov, V.I. Smirnov, A N. Tomilin, M.V. Tyapkin) received the State Prize.

Academician Lebedev S.A. has state awards: four Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the October Revolution, and medals.

S.V. Lebedev, an outstanding Russian chemist, founder of the industrial method for producing synthetic rubber, was born on July 25, 1874 in Lublin (now in Poland). He was the third child in the family. My father taught Russian literature at school, but at the age of 32 he became a priest. When Sergei was in his ninth year, his father died of consumption, and the fate of the family changed. Sergei was sent to his grandparents, after which he moved to Warsaw with his mother, but they had little money and lived modestly.

In 1885, Sergei entered the 1st grade of the Warsaw Gymnasium and already in the 5th grade he realized that he wanted to become a chemist. After graduating from the gymnasium (1895), he became a student of the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University and already in his third year began scientific research under the guidance of the famous chemist A.E. Favorsky.

In 1899, Sergei Vasilyevich was fascinated by social movements, participated in strikes and gatherings. At one of the demonstrations, he was arrested, but three days later he was released with a sign to immediately leave St. Petersburg. However, the expulsion did not last long, and in the autumn he received permission to continue his studies at the university.

After graduating from the university (1900) with a first degree diploma, Lebedev began to give physics lessons in secondary schools and work in a laboratory at the Zhukov brothers' soap factory.

In 1902, Sergei Vasilievich was invited to St. Petersburg University as a laboratory assistant in the department of technical and analytical chemistry. In 1904-1905. his scientific activity was interrupted by a call to military service, but at the end of the service he goes to Paris and works at the Sorbonne with Professor Victor Henri.

Returning to the university, in 1906-1916. Sergey Vasilyevich is engaged in the study of the processes of polymerization of unsaturated hydrocarbons. Since 1915, he became a professor at the Women's Pedagogical Institute.

Lebedev's main works are devoted to polymerization processes. In 1909-1910. the scientist published works on the polymerization of isoprene and diisopropenyl, in 1910 he received a sample of synthetic butadiene rubber. His work "Research in the field of polymerization of diethylene hydrocarbons" (1913) became the scientific basis for the industrial synthesis of rubber.

In 1913, Lebedev defended his master's thesis, was elected assistant professor at St. Petersburg University and professor at the Neurological Institute, and in 1914 began experiments in the polymerization of acetylene and ethylene hydrocarbons.

In 1916, the scientist became a professor at the Military Medical Academy in Petrograd, and from 1925 he simultaneously headed the oil laboratory he organized at Leningrad University (since 1928 - the laboratory of synthetic rubber).

In 1930, under the leadership of Lebedev, the construction of a pilot plant and a research laboratory began (now the S.V. Lebedev Research Institute of Synthetic Rubber). Divinyl was obtained at the plant, and then rubber in large volumes. Later, tire covers were made from this rubber.

In 1931, Lebedev was awarded the Order of Lenin "for particularly outstanding services in solving the problem of obtaining synthetic rubber."

Since 1932, according to the Lebedev method, the world's first synthetic rubber industry began to be created in the USSR.

In the 1930s, S.V. Lebedev carried out a series of studies in the field of hydrogenation of ethylene hydrocarbons, established the dependence of the rate of hydrogen addition to the double bond on the size, nature and location of substituents in the ethylene molecule. Developed methods for obtaining lubricating oil thickeners from petroleum fractions used in the production of high-viscosity lubricants for aircraft engines.

The scientific activity of the scientist was recognized by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1928 he was elected a corresponding member, and in 1932 a full member of the academy.

July 7, 1932 S.V. Lebedev took part in the ceremonial launch of the first large synthetic rubber plant in Yaroslavl, and in May 1934 he died of typhus. He was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, in the necropolis of artists, and his grave is located not far from the graves of P.I. Tchaikovsky and A.P. Borodina, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov and A.I. Kuindzhi. There is a laconic inscription on the monument: "Academician Sergei Vasilyevich Lebedev - the inventor of synthetic rubber."

Gravestone S.V. Lebedev at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg

SCIENTIFIC BIOGRAPHY FACTS

In 1908, at a meeting of the Russian Chemical Society, S.V. Lebedev made a preliminary report on the rate of polymerization of acrylic acid esters. However, soon, leaving work in this area, the scientist began classical studies of the processes of polymerization of diene hydrocarbons. And already at the December meeting of 1909, Lebedev demonstrated a rubber-like thermopolymer of divinyl. It is hard to imagine how a scientist could achieve such amazing results in such a short time. It should be taken into account that Sergei Vasilievich actually did all the work alone, and he was only partially helped by two volunteers from St. Petersburg University.

Caricature of 1913 Protection of S.V. Lebedev master's thesis

As a result of research, the scientist received only 19 g of the substance, and made a report on an outstanding discovery in just half an hour - Lebedev has always been distinguished by strict logic of presentation, clarity of language. After the meeting, many of those present remained in the hall to congratulate the scientist. In response to congratulations, Lebedev remarked: “You see, two years of work - and only half an hour of results. Such is the life of a chemist: behind every word are years of work. But this is our strength."

Sergei Vasilyevich was always very demanding of himself and others. He said that a chemist should be a laborer, a thinker, a researcher of matter. The scientist highly valued the ability to choose correctly and to set up an experiment well in order to obtain a reliable answer to a question of interest. “He wins in science,” he said, “who works correctly.” Many instruments in the laboratory were designed and assembled by his hands. With great dexterity and skill, he performed the duties of a glassblower, mechanic, fitter and taught his students to work the same way. At work, he was never nervous. His harshest condemnation: "This is not good."

At first, the scientist used oil to obtain divinyl, then he replaced it with alcohol, and potatoes served as the raw material for alcohol. Thus, at first, 500 kg of selected potatoes were used to make one car tire.

From the memoirs of Anna Petrovna Lebedeva, the wife of a scientist: “Sometimes he was lying on his back, and it seemed to me that he was sleeping, and he would suddenly take out a notebook and write in it chemical formulas... In general, I noticed many times how Sergei Vasilyevich, sitting in a concert and, apparently, excited by the music, suddenly hurriedly took out his notebook or, if it was not there, hastily took a poster and began to write down chemical formulas on it and then hid it in pocket".

In 1926, by order of I.V. Stalin, the Soviet government announced an international competition for best work for the synthesis of SC with a premium of 100 thousand rubles. The deadline for the competition was set on January 1, 1928. According to the conditions, in addition to the description of the method, it was required to submit 2 kg of SC and a developed scheme for its factory production. Raw materials for SC had to be affordable and cheap, and rubber from this raw material was not lower in quality than natural rubber and not higher in cost. Lebedev immediately organized a group of seven of his students and collaborators and set to work.

The conditions of the competition were so tough that none of the samples submitted by the world's leading laboratories fully met all the requirements. However, the method developed by Lebedev was recognized as the best and was the only one awarded in the competition. The examination showed that the yield of divinyl per spent alcohol is 22% instead of the 20% indicated by Lebedev in the description of the method (later the yield of divinyl was increased to 40%).

The method for obtaining SC from alcohol was recognized as very valuable, and the necessary funds were allocated for its further development. In the autumn of 1928, Lebedev submitted to Glavkhimprom a plan for further work necessary to draw up a project for a pilot plant. During 1930 Pilot Plant Letter "B" was built in Leningrad.

Name S.V. Lebedev wear:

• Research Institute of Synthetic Rubber. Academician S.V. Lebedev (FSUE "NIISK") - the largest Russian science Center on research in the field of rubbers and latexes. The Scientific Research Institute of Synthetic Rubber was established on the basis of the former Pilot Plant SK Liter "B", which also bore his name since 1935.
• Memorial museum-office of S.V. Lebedev in St. Petersburg (Gapsalskaya st., 1).
• The street where he lived in recent years. In 1949, in connection with the 75th anniversary of the academician, it was named Lebedev Street. Since 1956, the street has had its modern name - Academician Lebedev Street.
• Prize named after S.V. Lebedev, awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1995 for outstanding work in the field of chemistry and technology of synthetic rubber and other synthetic polymers.

Academician Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev, under whose leadership the first computer on the European continent, the Small Electronic Computer (MESM), was created in Ukraine, seemed to have lived two lives. The first coincided with childhood, study and twenty years of scientific activity in the field of energy, the second was entirely devoted to computer engineering - the creation of computers and the organization of their serial production. Between them - five years spent in Kyiv, the transition from the first life to the second.

Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev was born on November 2, 1902. in Nizhny Novgorod in a family of teachers. Impeccable honesty and diligence were placed in the family at the head of education. Strings from childhood stretched to everything that Sergei and the rest of the Lebedev children did later.

Graduated in 1928. Higher technical school(MVTU) them. Bauman in Moscow and having received a diploma in electrical engineering, S.A. Lebedev became a teacher at Moscow State Technical University. Bauman and at the same time a junior researcher at the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute (VEI). Soon he headed a group in it, and then a laboratory of electrical networks.

In 1933 together with A.S. Zhdanov published the monograph "Stability of parallel operation of electrical systems", supplemented and republished in 1934. In the world literature at that time there was no similar work, which so fully and comprehensively covered the problem of sustainability of energy systems. The differential equations of electromagnetic and electromechanical transients for synchronous machines given in the book are called the Longley-Lebedev-Zhdanov equations (Longley is an American scientist, author). They made it possible to successfully solve a number of problems of analyzing the modes of power systems and synthesizing automatic excitation controllers for synchronous machines. A year later, the VAK awarded the young scientist the title of professor. In 1939, Lebedev defended his doctoral dissertation without being a candidate of science. It was based on the theory of artificial stability of energy systems developed by him.

Sergey Alekseevich worked at VEI for almost twenty years. For the last ten years he has been in charge of the automation department. Before the war, VEI was one of the most famous research institutes, where a number of world-famous scientists worked. The Department of Automation dealt with the problem of control of energy systems (S.A. Lebedev, P.S. Zhdanov, A.A. Grodsky), the theory of automatic control (L.S. Goldfarb, D.I. Maryanovsky, V.V. Solodovnikov), new means of automation (D.V. Svecharnik), telemechanics (A.V. Mikhailov) and was a real constellation of young talents. A remarkable feature of the institute was the presence in it of a sufficiently powerful production base, due to which the results of research were quickly introduced into practice.

Malinovsky Boris Nikolaevich, a well-known scientist in Ukraine and abroad in the field of the theory of design and application of digital control machines, managed to find one of the VEI veterans - professor, doctor technical sciences D.V. Svecharnik, who shared his memories of Sergei Alekseevich.

“The war was coming. The department switched to defense topics. Sergey Alekseevich and I have begun work - for the first time directly jointly - on the creation of combat weapons homing to a target that emits or reflects radiation. In September 1941, Sergei Alekseevich was evacuated from VEI to Sverdlovsk. I had to deal more with the creation of a homing head (then the so-called extrafocal heads were first developed and then patented), Sergey Alekseevich - with aerodynamics and dynamics aircraft(he developed a four-winged system with autonomous control over independent coordinates)... In 1944, VEI returned to Moscow, and purge models of our aircraft began in Zhukovsky, near Moscow. The results were discussed with Academicians Khristianovich and Dorodnitsyn. Together already in 1945-1946. conducted full-scale tests in the Black Sea. And although both of us were equally listed as the chief designers of "guided weapons", Sergei Alekseevich instructed me to report to the commission of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. He himself only answered questions "in his part." One of the members of the commission attached a “marbled”, outwardly completely dark light bulb to his chest, and no matter how he crouched, jumped to the side, a blunt-nosed shark with mutually perpendicular fins kept homing in on his chest - it was impressive. Air Marshal Zhavoronkov gave a high appraisal of our work and told us what it takes for aviation to hit not only a snarling warship, but even a modest barge with conventional bombs. And when in October 1946, during full-scale tests in Evpatoria, where I was with Sergey Alekseevich, a direct hit was received on a barge, we silently embraced ...

So he was - a talented scientist and a modest person, a patient educator and a strict leader, prudent and courageous in actions, tolerant of mistakes, but hating meanness and treason.

During the war years, while in Sverdlovsk, S.A. Lebedev, in a surprisingly short time, developed a system for stabilizing a tank gun while aiming, which was quickly put into service. No one knows how many tankers during the war it saved the life of, allowing you to aim and fire from a gun without stopping the car, which made the tank less vulnerable. For work in the area military equipment S.A. Lebedev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

Almost every work of a scientist in the field of energy was accompanied by the creation of computing tools to perform calculations in the process of its implementation or to include them in the developed devices. So, to calculate a thousand-kilometer heavy-duty (9600 MW) transmission line Kuibyshev hydroelectric complex - Moscow, it was necessary to create a highly automated installation of powerful inductances and capacitances that implements the mathematical model of the line. This grand structure was installed in one of the buildings on Nogina Square in Moscow. The second copy of the model was assembled in Sverdlovsk. The use of the model, and in essence, a specialized computing device, made it possible to quickly and efficiently carry out the necessary calculations and draw up a design assignment for a unique power transmission line.

For the tank gun stabilization system and the automatic homing device for the target of an aircraft torpedo, it was necessary to develop analog computing elements that perform basic arithmetic operations, as well as differentiation and integration. Developing this direction, Lebedev in 1945 created the country's first electronic analog computer for solving systems of ordinary differential equations, which are often encountered in problems related to energy.

In the book “Alexander Alexandrovich Bogomolets. Memoirs of contemporaries ”(Kyiv. 1982) Academician M.A. Lavrentiev, wrote: “Lebedev, while still in Moscow, began to theoretically deal with this issue (the creation of electronic calculating machines) and, upon arrival in Kyiv, began to create separate models. In Feofania (near Kiev) there was a two-story house half-burnt by the Nazis. This house was restored, and the first laboratory in the Soviet Union for the creation of the first electronic calculating machine in the country was located there.

This statement is the only written evidence that speaks of the time when S.A. Lebedev's idea of ​​building a digital computer. Sam S.A. Lebedev never commented on this in his scientific works. Nevertheless, according to the recollections of people close to him, the idea of ​​building a digital electronic computer using the binary number system really came to him in the pre-war years.

The use of the binary number system made it possible to use the widest range of physical devices and phenomena, including vacuum tubes, as the element base of computing facilities. On the other hand, the execution method arithmetic operations in the binary system and analysis of the features of numerical methods of solution math problems became the theoretical basis for building a digital computer, which captivated the forty-year-old scientist, and later determined his second creative life. Experience of S.A. Lebedev in the energy sector, including the creation of complex and very cumbersome automated simulation facilities, also helped S.A. Lebedev to believe in the necessity and possibility of building electronic giants that were completely unusual for those times, such as the first computers were.

The war delayed, but did not affect the scientist's plan to create a digital computer. Fateful was the move to Kyiv. Being elected in 1945 as a full member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine S.A. Lebedev in 1946 became the director of the Institute of Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Having received at his disposal an institute where two incompatible scientific directions developed - electrical and thermal engineering. A year later, at the suggestion of S.A. Lebedev Institute is divided into two: electrical engineering and thermal power engineering. He becomes director of the Institute of Electrical Engineering. This frees him from worries about the implementation of heat engineering topics alien to him. Together with the laboratory of d.t.s. L.V. Tsukernika S.A. Lebedev initially continued research on the management of power systems and for this work they were awarded the State Prize. The next step was the creation of our own modeling and regulation laboratory. Since the autumn of 1948, S.A. Lebedev focused the laboratory on computer technology and switched completely to the implementation of the idea of ​​creating a computer. “The principle of operation of a high-speed machine is the principle of an adding machine,” he later said, speaking two years later at the closed academic council of the Institute of Electrical Engineering and the Institute of Thermal Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The "arithmometer principle" was the original, and since the electronic adding machine had to be controlled, the principles of program control and automatic program execution were added.

S. A. Lebedev with colleagues

At the first stage of work, the new brainchild of S.A. Lebedev was called the Electronic Computing Machine Model (MESM). As conceived by the scientist, the principles of building a new machine had to be tested on a model, and only then proceed to its creation.

October-December 1948. S.A. Lebedev organized a seminar for a general acquaintance with the problems of digital computing technology for the employees of his laboratory, and in January - March 1949, the principles of constructing MESM were discussed at the seminar. M.A. Lavrentiev, B.V. Gnedenko, A.Yu. Ishlinsky, A.A. Kharkevich and laboratory staff S.A. Lebedev.

Lebedev's first car

The main ideas of S.A. Lebedev, which he proposed for the implementation of MESM, boiled down to the following:

• representation of all information in the binary alphabet and its processing in the binary number system;
• program principle of control and placement of programs in the memory of the machine;
• the operational-address principle of constructing commands in programs and the possibility of the current change of commands (to perform cyclic actions) by operations on them in the same way as on numbers;
• hierarchical system machine actions (provided internal language), consisting of basic operations controlled by a circuit method, and compound procedures implemented according to standard subroutines;
• construction of basic operations based on elementary operations performed simultaneously on all digits of words;
• hierarchical organization of storage devices using multifunctional memory levels;
• the use of both central and local government computing process;
• element base - flip-flops and logic gates on vacuum tubes, external storage device - on a magnetic drum (the use of a magnetic drum to store large amounts of information was one of the first (and possibly the first) in the world).

During the discussion at the seminar, these ideas were developed and concretized.

In 1949, the main technical solutions were obtained in the laboratory of S. A. Lebedev: the element base of the machine was developed, its structural diagram, documentation for the main devices. Subsequent events related to the creation of the layout and its transformation into the Small Electronic Computing Machine developed at a rapid pace.

On November 6, 1950, a test run of the layout took place and the simplest test problems were solved. January 4, 1951 the current layout was shown admission committee Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. At the same time, the first calculations were performed - the calculation of the sum of the odd series of the factorial of a number, raising to a power. The alteration of the layout into the Small Electronic Computing Machine was started.

On August 1, 1951, Government Decree No. 2759-132 was issued, obliging the MESM to be put into operation in the 4th quarter of 1951. On November 7, 1951, the conversion of the layout into the Small Electronic Computer was completed, it was tested as a whole before launch. On December 25, 1951, the Government Commission accepted the MESM into regular operation.

The brainchild of S. A. Lebedev - MESM

Speaking at the Academic Council of the Institute of Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the creation of MESM, Glushkov V.M. assessed the importance of MESM for the development of computer technology in Ukraine and in the country: “Regardless of foreign scientists, S.A. Lebedev developed the principles of building a computer with a program stored in memory. Under his leadership, the first computer in continental Europe was created, important scientific and technical problems were solved in a short time, which laid the foundation for the Soviet school of programming. Description MESM became the first textbook in the country on computer technology. MESM was the prototype of the BESM Large Electronic Computing Machine; laboratory S.A. Lebedev became the organizational embryo of the Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and later the Institute of Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Already after the move, S.A. Lebedev to Moscow in Kyiv, according to his idea, another computer was created - this time specialized - for solving systems of linear algebraic equations(chief designer Z.L. Rabinovich).

The creation of MESM in such a short period of time - three years - in the conditions of the first years of the post-war period was a real feat of S.A. Lebedev and a small team led by him.

There were more than enough difficulties, since the development of the MESM was started as an initiative work without any government decrees. For the first two years, it was carried out at the expense of the meager budget of the Institute of Electrical Engineering.

A particularly difficult situation with the material support of work developed in the second half of 1950. Seeing what a difficult situation Lebedev S.A. got into, M.A. Lavrentiev wrote a letter to I.V. Stalin about the need to accelerate research in the field of computer technology. He, a mathematician, was appointed director of the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Science of the USSR Academy of Sciences, established in Moscow in 1948, and for the laboratory of S.A. Lebedev was allocated a substantial amount of money.

Lavrentiev decided to use the experience of Lebedev, who clearly demonstrated his creative possibilities, Sergey Alekseevich, while developing MESM, was already thinking and drawing diagrams and timing diagrams for BESM. In March 1951 Lavrentiev created laboratory No. 1 at the institute and invited Lebedev to head it part-time. So BESM, conceived and modeled in Kyiv, began to be developed in Moscow.

Lebedev brought from Kyiv a BESM project he had completed with his own hands.

The creation of BESM was an extremely important step in the development of domestic computer technology. BESM became the first domestic high-speed computer, and for a long time remained the most productive machine in Europe and one of the best in the world. In BESM, the ideas of S.A. Lebedev in the field of structural implementation of information processing methods. In particular, it was a completely parallel machine, it had a developed system of instructions, a form of representation of floating-point numbers, a multistage organization of memory, and other important features that allowed further development of the structure of the machine and its technical components. It became the basic prototype of the following machines and was operated for a long time at the Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, providing the solution of many very important tasks that previously, due to their complexity, could not be solved in a practically expedient time frame.

When creating BESM S.A. Lebedev formed a workable team of employees and founded a scientific school that determined the development of domestic computer technology for a long time.

Both MESM and BESM were made in one copy. Mass production machines developed at ITM and VT of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR began in 1958.

Each of the subsequent computers created under the direction of S.A. Lebedev, reflected the results of the scientific work of the ITM and VT team of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR obtained by that time and became a significant milestone in the domestic computer industry.

We will show this on the fundamental features of Lebedev's serial computers of the late 50s, 60s and 70s.

1958 BESM2: RAM based on ferrite cores; widespread use of semiconductor diodes; advanced (small block) design, floating pin connectors; Hundreds of thousands of problems were solved on BESM2 machines - purely theoretical, applied mathematics, engineering, etc. In particular, the flight trajectory of the rocket that delivered the pennant of the Soviet Union to the Moon was calculated.

1958 Computer M2O: for the first time in domestic practice, automatic address modification was applied; combining the work of AU and fetching commands from memory; used buffer memory for arrays printed. Combining printing with an invoice; synchronous transmission of information in logical circuits; tape drive with quick start and stop; for M20, one of the first operating systems IS2 was developed (Institute of Applied Mathematics, USSR Academy of Sciences).

1965 BESM4: semiconductor elements were used; software compatibility with the M20 computer. BESM4 machines were used to solve various problems in computer centers, scientific laboratories for automation of physical experiment, etc.

1967 BESM6: a system of elements with wide logical capabilities and paraphase synchronization; deep combination of command execution based on asynchronous pipeline structure; use of associative ultra-fast buffer memory; the first use of virtual memory in domestic machines; use of the "store" method of accessing memory; combined with the account parallel exchange of arrays with two magnetic drums and four magnetic tapes; operating system with multi-programming mode of operation.

The Commission notes with satisfaction that BESM6 has the main structural features of modern high-performance machines that allow it to be used in multiprogramming and time-sharing modes: an interrupt system, a memory protection apparatus, an instruction protection apparatus, an address assignment apparatus, and a store organization of command execution.

BESM6 computers were produced for 17 years and were used in computer centers and many branches of the national economy.

For the development and implementation of the BESM6 machine S.A. Lebedev, V.A. Melnikov, L.N. Korolev, L.A. Zak, V.N. Laut, A.A. Sokolov, V.I. Smirnov, A.N. Tomilin, M.V. Tyapkin were awarded the State Prize.

Computer technology from the first days of its appearance began to be used for military purposes. S.A. Lebedev was the chief designer of the computing facilities of the country's anti-missile defense system (ABM).

The importance of work in the field of missile defense, which at that time was far ahead of the level of foreign military equipment, led to the fact that the name of Lebedev as the chief designer of missile defense computing facilities was classified. Only in 1990 - 16 years after his death - his participation in the creation of the country's first missile defense systems was mentioned in the newspaper " Soviet Russia" dated August 5 (article by G.V. Kisunko "Money for defense").

It is safe to say that if BESM 2, M 20, BESM 6, installed in many computer centers, provided in post-war years fast development scientific research and solving the most complex problems of scientific and technological progress, then specialized computers developed under the guidance of S.A. Lebedev, became the basis of powerful computing systems in missile defense systems. The results obtained in those years were achieved abroad only a few years later.

Just a year later, at the created test site (experimental missile defense complex - the so-called system A west of Lake Balkhash), the first locator was put into operation, successfully recording all training missile launches in the country. And two years later, anti-missiles began firing at in full force systems A. Its components were radars unprecedented for those years with a powerful energy potential, an automated control system based on the high-speed M40, high-speed and maneuverable anti-missiles with the most accurate guidance, electronics with digital coding.

The creators of the first missile defense system received the Lenin Prize. Among them were G.V. Kisunko, S.A. Lebedev and B.C. Burtsev.

In the 1950s and 1960s, several directions were effectively developed in the field of domestic computer technology. The most famous were the scientific schools of S.A. Lebedeva, V.M. Glushkova, I.S. Brook and B.I. Rameev ("Penza School"). A number of prominent scientists A.A. Lyapunov, M.R. Shura-Bura, A.P. Ershov, V.M. Kurochin, E.L. Yushchenko and others.

scientific school Lebedev arose as a result of the great work of the scientist and his creative associates in the creation of ultra-high-speed universal and specialized computers - the most complex classes of computer technology.

The emergence of a new scientific direction and, moreover, a scientific school is a complex creative process. Books, articles and reports by S.A. Lebedev served as the foundation on which the scientific school of S.A. Lebedev and his authority grew.

A scientific school is created when a scientist, its founder, has students who grow into scientists who are able to conduct independent research, continuing the work, traditions, and ideas of the teacher. Lebedev's "chicks", raised at ITM and VT of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, turned out to be worthy students, became prominent scientists.

Dozens, if not hundreds of specialists have gone through the Lebedev school and remain faithful to it. Some of them are already retired, some worked for V.A. Melnikova (L.N. Korolev, V.P. Ivannikov, L.N. Tomilin and others), V.S. Burtseva (I.K. Khailov, V.I. Perekatov, V.B. Fedorov, V.P. Torchigin, Yu.N. Nikolskaya, etc.). The majority continued to work at ITM and VT Academy of Sciences of the USSR. S.A. Lebedev Academy of Sciences (G.G. Ryabov, V.I. Ryzhov, V.V. Bardizh, P.P. Golovistikov, V.L. Laut, A.S. Fedorov, A.A. Sokolov, M.V. Tyapkin, V.V. .I. Smirnov and others).

In the 60s, a discussion began in the USSR related to the transition to third-generation computers (on integrated circuits). Most of the participants in the discussion agreed that a number (family) of compatible (software and hardware) computers should be created. But that was where the agreement ended.

S.A. Lebedev, who proved for many years the correctness of his ideas and the ability to predict the prospects for the development of computer technology, proposed creating a number of small and medium-sized computers and independently developing supercomputers (due to large differences in the structure, architecture, and technology of supercomputers).

Lebedev, Glushkov and their supporters believed that the accumulated experience and the significant production potential created by that time made it possible to cooperate with the main manufacturers of computer equipment in Western Europe in order to jointly move on to the development of fourth-generation computers earlier than the Americans did.

Opponents of S.A. Lebedev was offered to go a different way - to repeat the American third-generation IBM360 system created a few years ago. Among them there were no scientists of such weight as Lebedev and his supporters, but there were people representing the authorities, and therefore making decisions. A government decree was adopted to create a Unified Computer System (ES COMPUTER) by analogy with the IBM360 family of machines. The Lebedev Institute was not mentioned in the resolution.

Sergei Alekseevich, having learned that the decision to repeat the IBM360 system was finally made, went to an appointment with the Minister of Radio Industry. To do this, he had to get out of bed. He had pneumonia, he was lying with a high fever. The visit ended in vain. After that, the disease intensified. Sometimes there was hope for recovery, but not for long. The strongest organism of the scientist, undermined for years by the most intense, not knowing the measure of labor, could not stand it.

He got worse and worse. The Order of Lenin, which he was awarded on his 70th birthday, was handed to him at home, he almost never got out of bed. It is unlikely that he was pleased with the reward if the cause suffered, to which twenty-five of the most fruitful years were given ...

The forecast of the brilliant scientist S.A. Lebedeva justified himself. Both in the United States and around the world, they subsequently followed the path that he proposed: on the one hand, supercomputers are being created, and on the other, a number of less powerful, focused on various applications Computers - personal, specialized, etc.

Enormous funds were spent on the development of ES computers. Copying the IBM 360 was difficult, with multiple shifts in the target dates, and required a huge effort from the developers. Of course, there was also a benefit - they repeated an outdated, but still very complex system, learned a lot, had to master new technology manufacture of computers, to develop an extensive range of peripheral devices, the skills of "Sovietization" of foreign developments appeared. And yet, at the same time, they “boiled in their own cauldron”, with difficulty getting the documentation for the IBM 360 system. If you think about the damage that was inflicted on domestic computer technology, the country, and pan-European interests, then it is, of course, incomparably higher in relation to the modest results obtained .

Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev died on June 3, 1974. He is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Merits of S.A. Lebedev before the Ukrainian science are not forgotten. The street in Feofania, where there is a two-story house that housed the MESM, is named after S.A. Lebedev. On the building where the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was located, the director of which was S.A. Lebedev, a memorial plaque was installed.

S.A. A monument was erected to Lebedev on the territory of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute "KPI". The opening of the monument, which took place on November 12, 2002, was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the scientist.

The opening ceremony was attended by I. V. Sergienko, A. V. Palagin, Lebedev's daughters - Natalia and Ekaterina, B. E. Paton, M. Z. Zgurovsky and the author of the monument - sculptor A. P. Skoblikov.

The following words are carved on the pedestal of the monument: “To the creator of the first computing machine in continental Europe from Kiev Polytechnics. Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev. And the direct speech of the scientist: “Electronic computing will be no less, if not more important than any other technology. 1948".

On November 2, 1902, Lebedev S.A. was born in Nizhny Novgorod. - an outstanding scientist who was destined to become the creator of domestic computers.

Moreover, Lebedev's developments in this area were not inferior to Western counterparts, and even ahead of them. But for a long time the name of the scientist was known only to a narrow circle of specialists.

However, the times cold war"Deprived of well-deserved wide popularity of many scientists and designers, whose work was of defense importance.

Due to secrecy, the myth was born that the USSR, and then Russia, were far behind in the creation and development of computer technology. In fact, everything is not so clear-cut here. And if you look at the facts, it turns out that not only in the "field of ballet", but also in the creation of computers, we were "ahead of the rest of the planet." Here are the works of Lebedev.

In 1945, it was he who created the country's first electronic computer. His employees are sure that if it were not for the war, during which he, an electrical engineer, was engaged in the automation of military equipment, work on creating a computer using a binary number system / other than decimal, which we use in ordinary life/ would have started and ended much sooner.

In 1948-1949 he made a fundamental contribution to domestic digital computing - independently and in parallel with Western scientists, he developed the principles of building a computer with a program stored in memory and implemented them with the team of his laboratory in the Small Electronic Computer.

By the end of 1949, the general layout of the machine and the schematic diagrams of its blocks were developed. In the first half of 1950, separate blocks were made and they began to debug them in interconnection, by the end of 1950 the debugging of the created layout was completed. On January 4, 1952, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences heard Lebedev's report on the commissioning of the MESM small electronic digital calculating machine .

In 1952, MESM was practically the only computer in the country, which solved the most important scientific and technical problems from the field of thermonuclear processes, space flights and rocket technology, long-distance power lines, mechanics, statistical quality control, etc.

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Independently of foreign scientists, S.A. Lebedev developed the principles of building a computer with a program stored in memory. Under his leadership, the first computer in continental Europe was created, important scientific and technical problems were solved in a short time, which laid the foundation for the Soviet school of programming. The description of MESM became the country's first textbook on computer technology. MESM was the prototype of the BESM Large Electronic Computing Machine.

Among world scientists, contemporaries of Lebedev, there is no person who, like him, would have such a powerful creativity to cover your scientific activity the period from the creation of the first tube computers, performing only hundreds and thousands of operations per second, to ultra-high-speed super-computers on semiconductor, and then on integrated circuits with a performance of up to millions of operations per second. Lebedev's scientific school, which has become a leader in former USSR, according to its results, successfully competed with the well-known American company IBM. Under his leadership, 15 types of high-performance, most complex computers were created and transferred for serial production, each is a new word in computer technology, more productive, more reliable and easy to use.

S.A. Lebedev combined two remarkable qualities that distinguished him from everyone else - outstanding abilities and exceptional modesty. This impression was created by all those who knew him well.

Lebedev's students L.N. Korolev and V.A. Melnikov, who became prominent scientists, wrote in one of their works: "Lebedev's genius consisted precisely in the fact that he set a goal taking into account the development of the structure of the future machine, knew how to choose the right means for its implementation in relation to the capabilities of the domestic industry."

The words of the epigraph "To be able to give direction is a sign of genius" are quite applicable to the person who laid the foundation for the domestic computer industry. The scientist took upon himself the most important and difficult thing in the new field of technology - the creation of a supercomputer - the most complex class of computer technology. And here, too, he immediately and unmistakably chose the main direction in the development of digital computers of this class - the parallelization of the computing process. Even now it remains the main one in the development of supercomputers.

The above estimates appeared only after the death of S.A. Lebedev. During his lifetime, newspapers and magazines did not write about him. There were two reasons for this. One official: his name as the chief designer of computers for missile defense systems was classified. The second stemmed from his character traits: he could tell a lot about the open, main part of his work on creating supercomputers for computer centers, about his institute and much more, but he did not like to meet with journalists, was extremely alien to self-promotion and absolutely indifferent to fame and glory. Opening the First All-Union Conference on Computer Engineering in 1956 in Moscow and characterizing the level of development of computer technology in the USSR, he did not even mention MESM, which, as is now obvious, became the first computer in continental Europe. For him, it was only a computer model, creating which he gained experience for subsequent work.

His performance was amazing. In the years of the creation of the computer, he, reinforcing himself with the strongest tea and Kazbek cigarettes, often worked for many days, with virtually no rest. This "charged" and inspired the people who worked with him. “They worked to the point of exhaustion,” recalls former student-trainee L. Ivanenko. “Somewhere at midnight, Sergei Alekseevich drove the youth to sleep and said that he himself would still sit at the oscilloscope. In the morning he was caught in the same place. blue curves on the screen..."

As a person, he attracted people with his high spirituality, the desire not to stand out among those around him, his sense of humor that never betrayed him, optimism in life and other remarkable qualities.

As a scientist, he attracted to himself with his obsession in striving to achieve his goal, deep penetration into the new field of science and technology he had begun, versatile engineering experience that allowed him to use many thousands of electronic tubes to realize his plan at a time when their number was in the most complex devices did not exceed two dozen!

In the history of science of the twentieth century there is no other scientist like Sergei Lebedev, active creative life which covered the entire period of creation of electronic technology - from the first tube computers to supercomputers on integrated circuits.

Under his leadership, 15 types of machines were created, each of which was a new word in this area. Lebedev's machines were the fastest in Europe, and in some of their structural features they surpassed the products of American firms. And today, the championship in terms of speed of computing systems among European countries is held by Russia, ranking third in the world according to this indicator. The Interdepartmental Supercomputing Center in Moscow operates a system of 768 processors at a speed of 1 teraflop - a trillion operations per second. Lebedev's contribution to the creation of nuclear energy and the country's nuclear shield can hardly be overestimated. He also worked in other defense areas. On the computing systems developed under his leadership, the first anti-missile defense complex was created, which in 1961 shot down a ballistic missile. In the United States, such a "trick" could be repeated more than 20 years later. Shortly before his death in 1974, Academician Lebedev approved the assignment for the development of the Elbrus computer complex.

Years of life: 1902-1974

Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev is a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes, Hero of Socialist Labor, chief designer of the first electronic computer BESM in the USSR and Europe and a number of other supercomputers. One of the initiators of the formation of the specialty "Computer Engineering" at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute.

Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev was born on November 2, 1902 in Nizhny Novgorod. Mother Anastasia Petrovna (nee Mavrina) left a rich noble estate to become a teacher at an educational institution for girls from poor families. Alexei Ivanovich Lebedev, Sergei's father, worked at a weaving factory.

Education

In 1921, he passed the exams for high school as an external student. In April 1928 he graduated from the Higher Technical School. Bauman by specialty engineer -electrician. Thesis was devoted to the problems of sustainability of energy systems created according to GOELROM - a plan for the electrification of the country. In the course of work, S.A. Lebedev had to face the need for rapid modeling complex systems and a large number of labor-intensive calculations.

Labor activity

Then he worked in All-Union Electrotechnical Institute (VEI) . After selection in 1930 Faculty of Electrical Engineering of Moscow Higher Technical School into an independent Moscow Power Engineering Institute became a professor at MPEI. FROM Professor in 1936. At the age of 45, S.A. Lebedev, already a well-known scientist in the field of electric power industry, switched completely to a new direction for him - computer technology. At the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, he organized the first scientific seminar in the country, on the basis of which a laboratory was created for the development of computers, called MESM (Small Electronic Computing Machine). It became the first computer created in Russia.

In 1951, S.A. Lebedev went to work in Moscow, where he headed the laboratory at the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Technology (ITM and CT) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1953 until the end of his life he was the director of this institute. At ITM and VT, Lebedev led the work on the creation of several generations of computers. Realizing how important it is to train specialists for a new direction, from 1953 until the end of his days, Lebedev headed

department "Electronic computers" at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev at ITM and VT headed the work on the creation of several generations of computers.

BESM

In the early 60s, the first computer from a series of large electronic calculating machines (BESM) - BESM-1 - was created. When creating BESM-1, original scientific and design developments were applied. This computer was then the most productive machine in Europe (8-10 thousand operations per second) and one of the best in the world.

Under the leadership of S.A. Lebedev, two more tube computers, BESM-2 and M-20, were created and put into production. In the 60s, semiconductor versions of the M-20 were created: BESM-3M, BESM-4, M-220 and M-222. When designing BESM-6, the method of preliminary simulation of the operation of the operating system of a future computer was used for the first time, which made it possible to find a number of solutions for organizing the computing process, which ensured the longevity of BESM-6, unprecedented in the history of computer technology.

In addition to fundamental developments, S.A. Lebedev performed important work on the creation of multi-machine and multi-processor systems.

The first step in the international recognition of Sergei Alekseevich's merits in the field of computer science was the awarding of him in 1996 with the "Computer Pioneer Award" medal for outstanding innovative work in the field of computer technology.

Features of BESM-6:

• Element base - transistor coupled amplifier with diode logic at the input
• Clock frequency - 10 MHz
• 48-bit machine word
• Speed ​​- about 1 million operations per second (the most productive American CDC 6600 system, produced since 1964, provided the same order of speed)
• Pipelined central processing unit (CPU) with separate pipelines for control unit (CU) and arithmetic unit (AU). The pipeline made it possible to combine the processing of several commands that were at different stages of execution.
• 8-layer physical memory organization (interleaving)
• Virtual memory addressing and extensible paging registers.
• Combined AU for integer and floating point arithmetic.
• Cache for 16 48-bit words: 4 data reads, 4 command reads, 8 write buffer
• The command system included 50 24-bit commands (two per word)

BESM-6 was mass-produced with

1968 to 1987 , a total of 367 cars were produced. Early 1980s included in delivery Elbrus-1 a 2.5-3 times faster version of BESM-6 was produced, on integrated circuits -Elbrus-1K2 or SHS(System Reproducing System, informal name). As peripherals Elbrus components were used. Also, an interface was introduced into the system EC computer , which allowed you to connect the appropriate peripherals.