Monument in Kyiv
		Memorial plaque in Kyiv
		Fresco depicting a scientist in Moscow
		Memorial plaque in Moscow (on the house where he lived)
		tombstone
		Memorial plaque in Kyiv (2)

Lebedev Sergey Alekseevich – Director of the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Engineering of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow.

Born October 20 (November 2), 1902 in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod province (now the region) in a family of teachers. Russian. In 1921 he entered the Moscow Higher Technical School at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, from which he graduated in 1928 with a diploma in electrical engineering. While still a student, S.A. Lebedev became interested in the problems of sustainability of energy systems. He began to work simultaneously as a teacher at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University and as a junior researcher at the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute (VEI).

Continuing to work on the problem of sustainability, S.A. Lebedev organizes a group at VEI, which then took shape in the laboratory of electrical networks. Gradually, the scope of the laboratory expands, and the problems of automatic control begin to fall into the circle of its interests. This led to the fact that on the basis of this laboratory in 1936 the department of automation was created, the leadership of which was entrusted to S.A. Lebedev.

After the separation of the electrical engineering faculty of Moscow Higher Technical School in 1930 into an independent Moscow Power Engineering Institute, he became a teacher at MPEI. Since 1936 he has been a professor. Already in 1939, S.A. Lebedev, bypassing the Ph.D., defended his doctoral dissertation on the theory of artificial stability of energy systems. In 1941 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences.

During the war, he continued research and developed a torpedo homing to emitting or reflecting radiation targets, as well as an automatic homing system for an aircraft torpedo target and a system for stabilizing a tank gun when aiming. The creation of such systems required a colossal amount of computation. It was this circumstance that led the scientist to understand the need to automate computational processes. As is known, von Neumann developed the principles of computer engineering and electronic accounting abroad, and the classical architecture of a computer is called “von Neumann”. Lebedev's scientific feat lies in the fact that in the conditions of the information isolation of those years, he came to the same conclusions as von Neumann, but six months earlier.

In February 1945, S.A. Lebedev was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, and in May 1946 he was appointed director of the Institute of Energy of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR in Kyiv. In 1947, after the separation of this institute, he became director of the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR.

The developed theoretical calculations allowed S.A. Lebedev to move on to practical work. At the end of 1947, the institute began to create a model of a digital electronic computing machine (MESM), a trial run of which took place on November 6, 1950. During the demonstration, the machine calculated the factorials of natural numbers and solved the equation of a parabola. In 1951, the MESM was put into operation by the commission, and in 1952 it was already solving important scientific and technical problems in the field of thermonuclear processes, space flights, rocket technology, and long-range transmission lines.

In 1947, S.A. Lebedev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and in 1950 he was awarded the Stalin Prize for the development and implementation of a compounding device for generators of power plants to increase the stability of power systems and improve the operation of electrical installations (together with L.V. Tsukernik).

In parallel with the final stage of work on the MESM in 1950, the development of the first Large (later renamed High-Speed) Electronic Computing Machine was started. The development of BESM was already carried out in Moscow, in the laboratory of the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Engineering of the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by S.A. Lebedev.

S.A. Lebedev combined the talent of a scientist-researcher with the remarkable abilities of an organizer and inspirer of work. He knew how to pick up a strong team, captivate it with work and concentrate all efforts to solve a common problem. In the 1950s, when there were not enough scientific personnel, Lebedev made a bet on the youth - and he was not mistaken. He gathered around him talented students - diploma students and graduates of Moscow Higher Technical School, MEPhI, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. For the students of S.A. Lebedev, the development of BESM became the start of scientific activity, later many of them became well-known scientists and academicians.

As a result, the colossal work was rewarded with victory - the conceived computer was created. The first launch of the BESM took place in the fall of 1952, and it passed state tests in 1953. In the same year, Lebedev became director of the Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Engineering.

On October 23, 1953, S.A. Lebedev was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. He became the first academician in the specialty "counting devices". Understanding how important the training of specialists for the new direction is, from 1953 until the end of his days, S.A. Lebedev headed the Department of Electronic Computers at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

In 1954, S.A. Lebedev was awarded the Order of Lenin.

After the establishment in February 1955 of the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, ITM and VT were tasked with preparing BESM for serial production. Almost all large computer centers of the country were equipped with BESM-2 machines. BESM-2 was used to carry out calculations during the launches of artificial Earth satellites and the first spacecraft with a man on board. Presented by S.A. Lebedev in October 1955 in Darmstadt (Germany) at the International Conference on Electronic Computing Machines, the report on our achievements made a sensation - BESM was recognized as the fastest machine in Europe. Its performance turned out to be a record - 8000 operations per second.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 1, 1956 for the design, creation and commissioning of the high-speed electronic calculating machine "BESM" Lebedev Sergey Alekseevich He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.

After the triumphant victory of BESM, under the leadership of Lebedev, work immediately began on the next version of the computer, with improved characteristics: increased speed, more memory, and increased stable operation time. This is how the following versions of the BESM family appeared - BESM-2, BESM-3M, BESM-4. These machines were already mass-produced, at first several dozen copies, then hundreds.

The best in the BESM series is rightfully the famous BESM-6, the world's first serial "millionaire" (1 million operations per second). The chief designer implemented in it many solutions that were revolutionary for that time, thanks to which the machine survived three generations of computer technology and was produced for 17 years. During this time, about 450 machines were produced, which is an absolute record for a "supercomputer" class computer. To date, the last copy of BESM-6 has been preserved, operating near St. Petersburg in the Training Center of the Navy.

In 1969, S.A. Lebedev (together with a group of employees of ITM and VT of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the SAM plant) was awarded the State Prize of the USSR for the development and introduction into production of the BESM-6 computer.

The development of BESM-6 is a vivid example of the creative approach inherent in the school of S.A. Lebedev to the creation of computers, taking into account all the possibilities of the technical base, mathematical modeling of structural solutions, as well as production to achieve the best characteristics of the machine. The production of BESM computers created real conditions for the emergence of several domestic schools for the development of software for these computers, original in their architecture.

The role of the scientist is also great in the field of development of mathematical software for computers. S.A. Lebedev was one of the first to understand the importance of system programming and the importance of cooperation between programmers-mathematicians and engineers in the creation of computer systems, including software as an integral part. On his initiative, a software laboratory was organized at ITMiVT, which developed system software for all systems created at the institute.

The creative energy of S.A. Lebedev was enough to conduct both scientific projects and specialized ones intended for defense purposes. On his initiative, in 1955, special vehicles Diana-1 and Diana-2 were developed to guide fighters to air targets. The continuation of this work led to the creation of a whole series of computers designed to solve missile defense problems. On the basis of these machines, the first anti-missile defense system of the country was created, for which S.A. Lebedev, together with the team of the main participants in the work, was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1966.

On the basis of BESM-6, a multi-machine computer complex AS-6 was created, which for 15 years was used in spacecraft flight control centers for real-time information processing. In 1975, during the joint flight of the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft, the AS-6 complex, processing information, calculated data on the flight trajectory in 1 minute, while for the American side such a calculation took half an hour.

S.A. Lebedev managed to form a national school of research and development, which for many years held a leading position in the world in a number of areas. Only from the mid-1970s did a gradual lag behind Western developers begin. This was largely due to the copying of the IBM series, as well as the emerging gap in the field of the element base. None of the types of machines by S.A. Lebedev was a copy of any foreign computer, everything was created on its own scientific basis, using original approaches to solving theoretical and applied problems. And this is the manifestation of the high intellectual abilities of a truly outstanding scientist and his scientific feat.

He was awarded 4 Orders of Lenin (03/27/1954; 06/01/1956; 11/09/1962; 11/01/1972), the Order of the October Revolution (04/26/1971), 2 Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (05/16/1947; 02/23/1957), medals.

Laureate of the Lenin (1966), Stalin (1950) and State (1969) Prizes of the USSR.

In 1996, the International Computer Society IEEE Computer Society honored S.A. Lebedev with its highest award - the Computer Pioneer Award medal for outstanding innovative work in the field of computer technology. The medal was presented to his family.

The Russian Academy of Sciences established the S.A. Lebedev Prize, which is awarded once every two years to Russian scientists who have made a great contribution to the development of domestic computer technology. The Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which he led for 20 years, has been named after him since 1975.

In Kyiv, a monument to S.A. Lebedev and a memorial plaque were erected on the building of the institute where he worked, a street was named after him. In Moscow, a memorial plaque was installed on the house where he lived.

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.

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 -an electrician. The 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 his work, S.A. Lebedev had to face the need for rapid modeling of complex systems and a large number of time-consuming 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 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 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 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.

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 the control unit (CU) and the 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.

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.

Best of the day

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 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, 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, 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 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 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.

S. A. Lebedev was born on November 2, 1902 in Nizhny Novgorod. In 1921, Lebedev went to study at the Moscow State Technical University at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, from which he graduated in 1928, becoming an electrical engineer. The results of his further work were used in the operation of domestic power plants and high-voltage transmission lines. In 1939, Lebedev defended his doctoral dissertation on the theory of artificial stability of power systems.

During the war, Lebedev was engaged in the development of homing torpedoes, developed a system for stabilizing a tank gun when aiming. For this work, 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."

In 1945, Lebedev was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR and became director of the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. At the end of 1947, a model of a digital electronic computing machine (MESM) began to be created at this institute, a trial run of which took place on November 6, 1950. During the demonstration, the machine calculated the factorials of natural numbers and solved the equation of a parabola.

At the same time, Lebedev in the laboratory No. 1 of ITM and VT in Moscow worked on the creation of BESM - a high-speed electronic calculating machine. Lebedev himself developed the structure of the BESM and drew up a plan for the implementation of the project for its development, he constantly monitored the progress of this project, which was successfully completed in April 1953.

In June 1953, Lebedev was appointed director of ITM and VT, which since 1975 bears his name. On October 23, 1953, Lebedev was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. He became the first academician in the specialty "counting devices". For the creation of BESM, Lebedev was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1954, and in 1956 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

After the establishment in February 1955 of the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, ITM and VT were tasked with preparing BESM for serial production. Almost all large computer centers of the country were equipped with BESM-2 machines. BESM-2 was used to carry out calculations during the launches of artificial Earth satellites and the first spacecraft with a man on board.

In order to draw attention to the scientific and technical achievements of our country in October 1955 in Darmstadt (Germany) at the International Conference on Electronic Computers, foreign specialists read Lebedev's report on BESM. This report caused a sensation: BESM turned out to be the best computer in Europe!

After the success of BESM, Lebedev began to think over the principles and architecture of the new M-20 computer, which was to become the fastest in the world. Many textbooks were written to work with this computer, and courses on studying the M-20 and programming for it were included in the curriculum of universities.

In parallel with the development and creation of universal computers, Lebedev paid great attention to work related to the defense of the country. On his initiative, in 1955, special vehicles Diana-1 and Diana-2 were developed to guide fighters to air targets. The future academician and director of ITM and VT V. S. Burtsev participated in these works, their continuation led to the creation of a whole series of computers designed to solve missile defense problems. On the basis of these machines, the country's first missile defense system was created, for which its authors, including Lebedev and Burtsev, received the Lenin Prize.

The pinnacle of Lebedev's work on the creation of universal computers was the world's most famous domestic computer BESM-6 (1967). Based on the results of work on BESM-6, Lebedev with a group of ITM and VT employees, which included the future academician V. A. Melnikov and the future chief designer of a modular conveyor processor (the best computer in Russia in the 90s) A. A. Sokolov, received the State Prize .

SA Lebedev set himself the goal of creating a computer with a speed of 100 million op/s. The work began with a computer complex for the air defense system, known as the S-300, which is still mass-produced in a modernized form. The element base worked out on machines for the S-300 was used in the development of the Elbrus 1 MVK.

S. A. Lebedev died on July 3, 1974 and did not see these new machines, just as he did not see the Elbrus 2 MVK, which was the result of many years of work by the ITM and VT team.

Another important result was the AS-6 multi-machine real-time information and computing complex, which was actively used in spacecraft flight control centers.

Throughout his life, S. A. Lebedev trained scientific personnel, educated young people by personal example. He headed the computer department at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, gave lectures, and personally supervised the scientific work of many undergraduate and graduate students. For twenty years, under his leadership, 15 high-performance computers were created.

In the process of designing, commissioning and commissioning of MESM, BESM, M-20 machines, he acted as a chief designer, as a commissioning engineer, and if circumstances required, then as an installation technician. Later, with the advent of qualified specialists, Lebedev entrusted them with a significant part of the work, leaving himself the most difficult areas related to the justification of innovations, with the theoretical justification of the structure and parameters of the computer.

The Russian Academy of Sciences established the S. A. Lebedev Prize, which is awarded once every two years to Russian scientists who have made a great contribution to the development of domestic computer technology.