Sergey 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
Sergei 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 Lebedevs' house, and children were instilled with love for the theater, music and folklore.
FavoritesSergei's childhood occupations 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, a 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 pre-war years
Sergey Lebedev's career begins with teaching at 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 difficulty lies in the fact that when designingbackbone power grids required 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 joined the people's militia, as 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 began 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 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 SystemsMoscow Power Engineering Institute, and in 1944 - the head of the Central Design Bureau of 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 the computer
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 expand 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 set up 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 layout with a representation of numbers with a fixed, and notfloating point, since the latter option led to an increase in the volume of equipment by 30%. 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 car was 60 m2.
Already 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 Fine Mechanics and Computer Technology), where he worked almost until his death.
Further developments
Following MESM and BESM, Lebedev designedmore 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 has never fawned before the authorities, and one of the indicative facts is that whenpresenting the Order of Lenin in 1962, he sat next to Patriarch Alexy. 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 her first child - the son of Serezha - Alisa Grigoryevna fell ill and was admitted to 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 longillness, 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 Institute of Fine Mechanics and Computer Engineering named after S. A. Lebedev still functions and graduates 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.
