The words "Soviet computer" evoke an indulgent smile in modern society. We used to think that Soviet computers were antediluvian weak devices the size of an average house. However, in fact, there was a period when the Soviet Union was leading the world on the level of development of computer technology.
The beginning of the era of computer technology
The USSR possessed the strongest scientific school in the world. Even before the Great Patriotic War, the first analog computer was built. Also before the war, the development of triggers - the main components of a digital computer - began.
The founder of the school of computer technology in our country is Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev (1902 - 1974 gg.). He led the creation of 15 different computer versions, ranging from the most simple tube, ending with computers on integrated circuits.
Now the claims that our scientists copied computers from Western machines are popular. This is easy to refute, just thinking logically. How was it possible to get samples, if at that time the operating computer occupied 2-3 floors? So these statements - just a myth, diligently implemented by Western, and our media.
Academician Lebedev took up the creation of the first Soviet computer in 1948. In just two years the car was already operating. The author dubbed his device "Small electronic-counting machine", abbreviated as MESM. The device occupied the whole wing of the building in two floors. Do not be struck by the magnitude, Western computers were about the same.
The USSR was in the lead in the computer race
In Europe at that time there was only one computer - the English EDSAK. The processor of the Soviet machine was much more powerful than the competitor.
Soon was built and a large electronic-counting machine - BESM-1. It was developed by the second half of 1952.
Since 1958, the modernized BESM-2 was launched into the series. Lebedev's team continued to improve their cars. Serial M-20 was at that time the fastest computer on the planet.
In the USSR, computers were successfully used in the anti-missile defense system. In 1961, such a system knocked down a real rocket. The US was able to repeat this success only 23 years later.
During the Soyuz-Apollo flight, the Soviet PMU received telemetry data for 60 seconds - thirty times faster than the Americans. And now we are told about the eternal backwardness of the Soviet Union!
In 1979, earned the first "Elbrus" - a new generation of computer technology. He embodied many of the newest principles used in computers today. And he did it much earlier than the Western counterparts.
How did the US become a leader
After the collapse of the Union, many talented scientists left the country and left for the West. The exception is not made by computer scientists. One of the creators of "Elbrus" Vladimir Pentkovsky moved to the states and began working at Intel. Under his leadership, the first Pentium processor was developed.
It was thanks to him that the corporation made a breakthrough in the field of creating computers. He applied the real developments made in our country even at a time when such ideas were only considered by American scientists.
From all of the above, we can conclude that our country not only did not lag behind in the field of computer technology, but on the contrary, it was leading in it. So all the allegations about the underdevelopment of the Union in comparison with the states is a myth imposed by the Western media. Unfortunately, our media gladly support him and few know the true state of things.
