Sergey Lebedev (scientist)

Lore & Background

Lebedev worked at the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute from 1928 to 1946. During World War II, his group designed a weapon-aiming stabilization system for tanks and an automatic guidance system for airborne missiles, developing an analog computer to solve ordinary differential equations. From 1946 to 1951, he headed the Kiev Electrotechnical Institute, working on electrical system stability. In 1948, after learning from foreign magazines that western scientists were working on electronic computers, he decided to focus his laboratory on computer design. His first computer, MESM, was completed by the end of 1951. In April 1953, the BESM-1 was accepted as operational but did not go into series production due to opposition from the Ministry of Machine and Instrument Building, which had developed its own weaker and less reliable machine. Lebedev then developed the M-20, with an expected speed of twenty thousand operations per second, accepted in 1958 and put into series production. Simultaneously, the BESM-2, a development of the BESM-1, went into series production; though slower than the M-20, it was more reliable and used to calculate satellite orbits and the trajectory of the first rocket to reach the Moon. Lebedev and his team later developed the BESM-6, which was in production for 17 years.

Reader's Guide

Lebedev's significance lies in his founding role in the Soviet computer industry. His first computer, MESM, marked the beginning of Soviet electronic computing. The BESM-1, though not mass-produced due to bureaucratic opposition, was a foundational design. The M-20 and BESM-2 entered series production, with the BESM-2 used for critical space calculations. The BESM-6, his later machine, had a production run of 17 years, indicating its lasting impact. In 1996, the IEEE Computer Society recognized Lebedev with a Computer Pioneer Award for his work in computer design and founding the Soviet computer industry. His legacy is that of a pioneer who overcame institutional resistance to establish a domestic computing capability.

Did You Know?

• Lebedev learned about western computer work from foreign magazines in 1948, as details were secret.
• The M-20 computer was named for its expected speed of twenty thousand operations per second.
• Lebedev received the State Stalin Prize in 1950 for improving the stability of electrical systems.