S a Lebedev biography. Biography of Sergei Lebedev

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 of the "cold war" deprived many scientists and designers of well-deserved wide fame, 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 / different from the decimal one that we use in ordinary life / would have begun and ended much earlier.

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 that solved the most important scientific and technical problems in 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 the scientists of the world, contemporaries of Lebedev, there is no person who, like him, would have such a powerful creative potential to cover with his scientific activity the period from the creation of the first vacuum tube computers, performing only hundreds and thousands of operations per second, to ultra-fast 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 became the leading one in the former USSR, successfully competed with the well-known American company IBM in its results. 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 computers, he, reinforcing himself with the strongest tea and cigarettes "Kazbek", 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 electron tubes to implement 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, whose active creative life covered the entire period of the 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 Russia holds the championship in terms of speed of computing systems among European countries, ranking third in the world in this indicator. The Interdepartmental Supercomputer 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 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.

Academician Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev (1902−1974) is an outstanding electrical engineer, power engineer and founder of domestic computer technology.

Sergei Alekseevich devoted the first half of his life to the problems of electric power industry and automation, and the second to the creation of electronic digital computer technology. And everywhere he was accompanied by a huge scientific success, which led to the recognition of his merits not only in our country, but also abroad.

Sergey Alekseevich was born on November 2, 1902 in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of the writer Alexei Ivanovich Lebedev and Anastasia Petrovna Mavrina. From childhood, the future scientist was fond of technology, photography, he loved music, fine arts, theater.

Years of study at the Moscow Higher Technical School. N.E. Bauman (MVTU), then the Mechanics and Mathematics Institute, were for Sergei Alekseevich a time not only of intensive studies, but also of the first scientific searches.

After graduating from the institute in 1928, S.A. Lebedev becomes a teacher at Moscow State Technical University. N.E. Bauman and a junior researcher at the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute (VEI), where he worked until 1946. At VEI, Sergey Alekseevich dealt with the problems of stability and regulation of power systems. In the same years, his abilities as a leader and organizer of science were manifested.

In 1935 S.A. Lebedev received the title of professor, in 1939, without being a candidate of science, he defended his doctoral dissertation related to the theory of artificial stability of energy systems developed by him. For 10 years he headed the VEI automation department. During the war, Sergei Alekseevich completely switched to defense topics.

In 1945, under the leadership of the scientist, one of the first electronic analog computers in the country was created for solving systems of ordinary differential equations, which are often encountered in problems related to energy.

In 1946 S.A. Lebedev was invited to the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine to the post of director of the Institute of Energy. A year later, the Institute of Energy was divided into two, and S.A. Lebedev became director of the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Here, together with L.V. Tsoukernik Lebedev carried out research on the management of power systems and the development of automation devices that increase the stability of power systems. In 1950 they were awarded the State Prize of the USSR.

Solving the problems of electrical engineering and energy with the help of analog computers, S.A. Lebedev came to the formulation of the problem of creating a digital machine.

In 1946, at the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Sergey Alekseevich headed research in the field of computer technology, the result of which was the creation of the first domestic computer - a small electronic calculating machine (MESM).

At the beginning of 1957, S.A. Lebedev writes: “... In 1948-1949. I developed the basic principles for the construction of electronic calculating machines. Taking into account their exceptional importance for our national economy, as well as the lack of any experience in their construction and operation in the Union, I decided to create a small electronic calculating machine as soon as possible, on which one could study the basic principles of construction, test the methodology for solving individual problems and gain operational experience…”.

The protocol of the Academic Council of the Institute of Electrical Engineering and Thermal Power Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine noted “According to foreign literature, the design and construction of the machine takes 5-10 years, we want to complete the construction of the machine in 2 years.”

In the book “How it began”, the main assistants of S.A. Lebedeva L.N. Dashevsky and E.A. Shkabara recall: “... At the end of 1951, a very representative commission of the USSR Academy of Sciences arrived in Feofaniya from Moscow to accept the MESM into operation. This commission was headed by Academician M.V. Keldysh. I took MESM exams for three days. And although the exams were not competitive, since she had no competitors, everyone was terribly worried. Academicians with impenetrable faces passed from the premises of the MESM, where they asked her all sorts of "tricky problems", to the office of Sergei Alekseevich and there they deliberated for a long time. And our MESM came out to the people. The jubilation was universal. Finally, the tests were completed, and the commission decided: to accept the car from December 25, 1951 into operation.

25 years after the creation of the first universal computer in our country, a documentary film "Keep Forever" was filmed, which included the most unique footage of this machine. Only a few minutes on the screen, the MESM counts (executes the program), but these frames make a very strong impression and are remembered forever.

After MESM, the creation of a specialized SESM computer for solving systems of linear algebraic equations began. The main ideas for building SESM were put forward by S.A. Lebedev.

In 1950 S.A. Lebedev began the development of BESM (high-speed electronic calculating machine). In March 1950, he was appointed head of the laboratory of the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Engineering (ITMiVT), whose director was Academician M.A. Lavrentiev. In the first quarter of 1953, the BESM was set up, and in April 1953 it was accepted into operation by the State Commission. Due to the shortage of cathode ray tubes, which were supplied then only for the Strela computer, for the first three years the BESM was operated with acoustic mercury tube memory, which reduced its speed by several times. In 1956, BESM was adopted by the State Commission for the second time - with memory on potentialoscopes.

In 1956, the report of S.A. Lebedev about BESM at the international conference in Darmstadt made a sensation - BESM was at the level of the best American machines and the fastest in Europe.

In 1953, Sergei Alekseevich was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. At a banquet on the occasion of the election of new members of the Academy, S.O. Schmidt said: "Today we have elected two remarkable scientists as academicians - SA Lebedev and AD Sakharov."

In 1955 S.A. Lebedev began the development of the M-20 (the number in the title indicated the expected speed - 20 thousand ops / s). At that time, no other machine in the world had such a computing speed. In 1958, the State Commission accepted the M-20 and recommended it for mass production. For the first time in domestic practice in M-20 S.A. Lebedev, in order to increase productivity, implemented the combination of the operation of an arithmetic unit and fetching instructions from memory, the introduction of buffer memory for data arrays issued for printing, the combination of input and output of data with an account, etc. Later, semiconductor versions of the M-20 were developed, implementing the same architecture: - M-220 and M-222.

In April 1959, a delegation of Soviet specialists in computer technology, headed by Academician S.A. Lebedev, visited the United States of America, in particular, IBM, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Philadelphia, Washington, the National Bureau of Standards in New York. And everywhere they were warmly welcomed by representatives of universities, the largest firms in America. The obstacles caused by the Cold War did not prevent the scientists of the two countries from fruitfully communicating, exchanging accumulated experience in the field of creating computer technology and discussing all the problems that arose in this.

Under the leadership of S.A. Lebedev ITMiVT after completion of work on tube BESM-2 and M-20 began designing a semiconductor BESM-6, which had a speed of 1 million op./s. The State Commission chaired by M.V. Keldysha accepted BESM-6 with high marks and recommended it for mass production. BESM-6 had full software. Many leading programmers of the country took part in its creation.

On the basis of BESM-6, computing centers for collective use for scientific organizations, systems for automating scientific research in nuclear physics and other fields of science, information and computing systems for processing information in real time were created. It was used to model the most complex physical and control processes, in software design systems for new computers. BESM-6 was produced by the Moscow CAM plant for 17 years.

For the development and implementation of BESM-6, its creators (from ITMiVT - S.A. Lebedev, V.A. Melnikov, L.N. Korolev, L.A. Zak, V.N. Laut, V.I. Smirnov, A A. Sokolov, A. N. Tomilin, M. V. Tyapkin, from the CAM plant - V. A. Ivanov, V. Ya. Semeshkin) were awarded the State Prize.

ITMiVT together with the SAM plant based on BESM-6 developed the AS-6 computer system, the modular organization and unified exchange channels of which made it possible to build decentralized multi-machine computing systems. The AC-6 operating system provided operation in batch processing, remote batch processing, time sharing, and real time modes. AC-6 was used for data processing and control in systems of space experiments, as well as in a number of computer centers of large research organizations.

For 20 years, Sergei Alekseevich headed the many thousands of staff of the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Engineering (ITMiVT) of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Specialized computers created under the direction of S.A. Lebedev for the anti-missile defense system, became the basis for achieving strategic parity between the USSR and the USA during the Cold War. In 1952−1955. student S.A. Lebedeva V.S. Burtsev developed specialized computers "Diana-1" and "Diana-2" for automatic data acquisition from the radar and automatic tracking of targets. Then for the anti-missile defense system (ABM), the general designer of which was G.V. Kisunko, in 1958, the M-40 tube computer was proposed, and a little later, the M-50. The creators of the first missile defense system received the Lenin Prize. Among them were G.V. Kisunko, S.A. Lebedev and V.S. Burtsev. To see the release of the next series of high-performance computers, which were developed by ITMiVT, S.A. Lebedev did not have a chance. Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev died on July 3, 1974 in Moscow. He is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Sergey Alekseevich Lebedev, a talented scientist and organizer, is rightfully considered the founder of domestic computer technology. Name S.A. Lebedeva now wears ITMiVT, which has a small museum. Students of S.A. Lebedev created their own scientific schools and teams.

The world scientific community recognized the merits of S.A. Lebedev in 1996, awarding him the title of "Pioneer of Computer Engineering".

“... He lived and worked during the period of rapid development of electronics, computer technology, rocket science, space exploration and atomic energy. Being a patriot of his country, Sergey Alekseevich took part in the largest projects of I.V. Kurchatov, S.P. Koroleva, V.M. Keldysh, who ensured the creation of the shield of the Motherland. In all their works, the role of electronic computers created by Sergei Alekseevich, without exaggeration, is enormous. His outstanding works will forever be included in the treasury of world science and technology, and his name should be next to the names of these great scientists,” academician B.E. wrote about him. Paton.

Prepared by:

Smolevitskaya M.E. – Pioneer of domestic computer engineering Sergey Alekseevich Lebedev (1902−1974) // Problems of cultural heritage in the field of engineering activity: collection of articles. – Issue 4. - M., 2003. - S.64−89.

The article is devoted to a brief biography of S. A. Lebedev, the man who stood at the origins of the creation of computers in the Soviet Union.

Brief biography of Lebedev: the formation of a scientist

Sergey Alekseevich Lebedev was born in 1902. His family belonged to the creative intelligentsia, which left a positive imprint on the formation of the personality of the future scientist.
In 1920, the Lebedev family moved to Moscow, where Sergei entered the Higher Technical School and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. In Soviet Russia, a large-scale electrification program was unfolding, and people with the education of Lebedev were extremely in demand.
Lebedev works at an electrical engineering institute, and after the creation of a special energy institute, he becomes a teacher there. Scientific developments of the scientist are widely used in the creation of new power plants in the country. In 1936, Lebedev was awarded the title of professor for his scientific work.
30s were a time of unprecedented terror, under the threat of which no one felt safe. The practice of denunciation for personal interests, in order to move up the career ladder, has become common. To Lebedev's credit, it should be noted that the employees who worked under his leadership felt absolutely safe and could concentrate exclusively on scientific work. The scientist was brought up in the traditions of the real Russian intelligentsia and could not afford unworthy actions and deeds. He demanded the same from his employees.
In Lebedev's scientific work, deep theoretical developments were combined with the obligatory practical orientation of all research.
During these years, the scientist begins to seriously study the binary number system and the possibilities of its practical application.
During the war, all the efforts of Soviet science were aimed at achieving victory, creating new weapons and improving existing ones. Lebedev is the author of the project of homing torpedoes. Another of his merit was the creation of a stabilization system when firing from tanks. The work of the scientist was marked by major government awards.

Brief biography of Lebedev: the creation of computers

After the war, Lebedev moved to Kyiv. Here he heads the Institute of Energy. For many years of work, the scientist was engaged in a large number of mathematical calculations that require a lot of effort and attention. He turns to solving the problem of automating this kind of cumbersome calculations. To this end, scientists have done a lot of work, which resulted in the creation of a small electronic computing machine (MESM) with program control - a prototype of the future computer. Despite the fact that in our time Russia is significantly inferior to the West in the field of computer technology, it was in the Soviet Union that the first working model of the prototype of a modern computer was created.
Under the direct participation of the scientist in the Soviet Union, a significant breakthrough was made in the field of high technologies. For a long time, these developments were revolutionary in nature, but were mainly used exclusively in the field of the military industry. In particular, with the help of MESM, the most complex calculations were carried out for the needs of space and rocket technology, as well as in the field of thermonuclear processes.
The work of the scientist was carried out in the strictest secrecy, as it took place in the interests of the military industry. The government of the Soviet Union was seriously interested in Lebedev's developments. He was transferred to Moscow, where he created a new model - a high-speed electronic calculating machine.
In 1956, Lebedev made an international report on his work, which caused a sensation. A model of a computer created in the USSR turned out to be the fastest in Europe and was not inferior to the best American analogues.
Throughout his life, under the leadership of Lebedev, fifteen models of computers were created, starting with samples working on lamps and ending with devices on integrated circuits. Health problems forced the scientist to leave his official job, but he continued to engage in scientific activities at home. Lebedev's latest research was used in the development of the Elbrus computer. The scientist strongly opposed copying American computer developments, defending domestic designs and considering them more promising.
Lebedev died in 1974, going down in history as the father of domestic computer technology. Became the owner of many government awards and titles. He made a huge contribution to the development of the domestic computer industry. The works of the scientist were duly appreciated abroad, where he was recognized as one of the pioneers of computer technology and the creator of the Soviet computer.

Sergei Lebedev is rightfully considered the leading designer and developer of domestic electronic computers. His contribution to this branch of science is compared with the role of Korolev in rocket science and Kurchatov in the creation of nuclear weapons. In addition to scientific work, he was active in teaching and trained many young scientists of world renown.

Childhood and youth

Sergey Alekseevich Lebedev was born on November 2, 1902. His father, Alexei Ivanovich, having graduated with honors from a school for orphans and a teacher's institute, taught in the village of Rodniki, Ivanovo-Voznesensk province. Sergei Lebedev's mother, Anastasia Petrovna, was a hereditary noblewoman. She left her rich estate to also become a teacher.

Sergey had three sisters, one of whom - Tatyana - is a world famous artist. The parents of the future scientist tried to be a model for their students and children. Such qualities as diligence, decency and honesty were placed at the head of education. There were a lot of books in the Lebedev's house, and children were instilled with love for the theater, music and folklore.

Sergei's favorite pastimes as a child were swimming, music, reading, chess and carpentry, which his uncle taught him. Even then, he was fond of electrical engineering - he made a dynamo, an electric bell, a Leyden jar.

After the revolution in 1917, the family of teachers was transferred from one city to another. In 1919, Sergei moved to Moscow with his father, who was entrusted with the organization of the production of transparencies for educational and propaganda purposes. In 1921, S. A. Lebedev passed the exams in the school curriculum and was admitted to the Moscow State Technical University. N. E. Bauman.

Studying at the institute

In his student years, the young scientist was fond of sports: he went to the mountains, skied, and kayaked. An active lifestyle did not prevent him from doing science - in his graduation project, he developed the problem of the stability of the operation of large power plants in a system where consumers and producers of electricity were located at great distances.

This was his first serious scientific work, the work on which took 2 years. At the age of 26, having defended his diploma at Moscow Higher Technical School, he became the most competent specialist in this matter.

Work in the prewar years

The work biography of Sergei Lebedev begins with teaching at the Moscow Higher Technical School. At the same time, he was on the staff of the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute (VEI). Under his leadership, a special laboratory was created, in which the scientist continued to work on the chosen topic. Its complexity lay in the fact that when designing main power networks, it was necessary to make very complex calculations. This prompted the young scientist to develop models of electrical networks and search for new methods for calculating their mode of operation.

In 1935, Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev was awarded the title of professor. The basis of his doctoral dissertation, which he defended in 1939, was a new theory of the sustainability of energy systems. In 1939-1940. he participated in the design of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric complex. In addition, he was engaged in the creation of a device for solving differential equations, and then began to develop an electronic computer based on the binary number system.

The Great Patriotic War

In 1941, Lebedev signed up for the people's militia, since he was no longer subject to military conscription due to age. He was not allowed to go to the front, and VEI was evacuated to Sverdlovsk. The work switched to defense topics. In a short time, the scientist mastered aerodynamics and started developing homing aircraft torpedoes, as well as a system for stabilizing a tank gun during aiming.

Like all VEI employees, in winter Sergey Alekseevich worked at logging sites. During the evacuation, the Lebedev family was in poverty: they had to live in a waiting room, the children were often sick. In 1943, when the threat of a Nazi attack on Moscow had passed, the institute was transferred back to the capital.

There Lebedev continued his teaching and research activities. In 1943, he was appointed head of the Department of Automation of Electrical Systems of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, and in 1944, head of the Central Design Bureau for Electric Drives and Automation. In 1945, the scientist was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR.

On the way to computers

In 1945, the scientist made the first attempt to organize work on the design of digital machines. But the leadership of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks did not take Sergei Lebedev's idea seriously. Under the patronage of acquaintances, he was offered to move to Kyiv and head the Institute of Energy, which made it possible to develop this work.

In 1947, this institution was divided into two institutes - thermal power engineering and electrical engineering. S. A. Lebedev became the director of the latter. Here he finally created a laboratory for solving problems related to electronic computing.

Even during the design of the Kuibyshev power line, the scientist was simultaneously developing the basics of the binary number system, but because of the war, he had to interrupt his research. At that time, there were no computers in the world yet. It was only in 1942 that Atanasov's computer was assembled in the USA, designed to solve systems of simple linear equations. Lebedev came to his technical solution on his own, so he can be called a pioneer of domestic computer technology. If not for the war, the first computer could have been created in Russia.

BESM and MESM - large and small electronic computing machine

In 1949, S. A. Lebedev began work on the design of MESM. It was conceived as a fixed-point layout rather than a floating-point one, since the latter option resulted in a 30% increase in hardware size. Initially, it was decided to stop at 17 binary digits, then they were increased to 21.

The first circuits were cumbersome, and many nodes had to be reinvented, since standard reference books on the circuitry of digital devices simply did not exist then. Suitable schemes were entered into a journal. Due to lack of funds, household electronic lamps were installed in the car. Debugging of the MESM went around the clock, and Lebedev himself worked continuously for 20 hours. In 1951, the first working computer in the USSR and Europe was built. She could perform 3000 operations per minute, and the data was read from a punched card. The area occupied by the machine was 60 m 2 .

Since 1951, MESM has been used to solve important defense and theoretical problems in the field of space flight, mechanics, and thermonuclear processes. For Lebedev, the creation of this machine was only a stepping stone on the way to the development of BESM. Its performance was 2-3 times higher than that of the MESM, and in 1953 it became the most productive computer in Europe. BESM could work with floating point numbers, and the number of digits was 39.

In 1953, Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev was elected an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and then he was appointed head of ITMiVT (Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology), where he worked almost until his death.

Further developments

Following MESM and BESM, Lebedev designed more advanced electronic computers (BESM-2 - BESM-6, M-20, M-40, M-50, 5E92b, 5E51, 5E26). Some of them were used in the defense and space industries. M-20, built using semiconductors, became the prototype for the mass-produced BESM-4.

In 1969, Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was given a very difficult task for those times: to create a computer with a performance of 100 million operations per second. There were no analogues with such characteristics even abroad. The scientist called his project to create a super-productive computer "Elbrus", in memory of the summit conquered in his youth.

The first step towards the goal was the Elbrus-1 computer, which was put into operation after the death of the scientist in 1979. Its performance was still far from the required one - almost 7 times less. The second modification that followed it demonstrated already 1.25 times the speed of work than required. The Elbrus computer, a development of Soviet engineers, was 14 years ahead of the first superscalar computer Pentium-I.

Personal qualities

Relatives and colleagues of Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev noted his kindness, modesty, directness and adherence to principles in everything: from household trifles to work. He easily found a common language with young people and was respected among students and graduate students.

The scientist never fawned over the authorities, and one of the revealing facts is that when he was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1962, he sat next to each other. None of the invitees wanted to compromise themselves by communicating with the head of the church.

Many friends always came to the Lebedev's house, among them were eminent actors and musicians. He never retired to work in the office, but studied in the common room while talking to the children.

With his future wife, 16-year-old cellist Alisa Shteinberg, Sergey Alekseevich met in 1927, and after 2 years they got married. The scientist treated his wife with respect and addressed her as you. After the birth of the first child - the son of Seryozha - Alisa Grigorievna fell ill and ended up in the hospital. Lebedev himself looked after the baby and carried it twice a day to his wife so that she would breastfeed the baby. In 1939, the twins Katya and Natasha were born into the Lebedev family, and in 1950 an adopted son, Yakov, appeared.

Lebedev Sergey Alekseevich: awards

For his fruitful work, the scientist received many awards, including the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR, and others.

For merits in the development of Soviet electronic computing technology, Lebedev was awarded the Order of Lenin 4 times during his lifetime, and in 1996 (posthumously) he was awarded the Pioneer of Computer Technology medal.

Memory of Sergei Alekseevich

In 1974, after a long illness, the scientist died. Sergei Alekseevich was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. Now the ashes of his wife, who outlived her husband by only 5 years, and her son also rest there.

In Moscow, the S. A. Lebedev Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Engineering is still functioning and graduating specialists. RAS (Russian Academy of Sciences) awards them every year. Lebedev for the developments of domestic scientists in the field of information systems. In honor of Sergei Alekseevich, streets are also named in his hometown - Nizhny Novgorod and in Kyiv, where he worked.

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. In 1921, he externally passed the exams for high school and entered the Moscow State Technical University at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. The start of engineering and scientific activities of S.A. Lebedev coincided with the implementation of the GOELRO plan - a plan for the electrification of the country. In the course of his work, S.A. Lebedev had to face the need for rapid modeling of complex systems and a large number of time-consuming calculations. At the age of 45, S.A. Lebedev, already a well-known scientist in the field of electric power, switches 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 Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering (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. Understanding how important the training of specialists for a new direction is, from 1953 until the end of his days, Lebedev headed the Department of 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. 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 the organization of 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.