BESM 1

The First Soviet Computer #

The story of the first Soviet computer is one of ambition, secrecy, and the intersection of early computing innovation and the Cold War. In the midst of post-WWII technological arms races, the Soviet Union sought to match or surpass the technological advancements of the Western world. At the heart of this drive was the development of the first computer systems in the Soviet Union, which would serve both military and civilian needs.

a focus on the BESM (Big Electronic Calculating Machine) series, specifically BESM-1, developed in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Following the end of WWII in 1945, the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, embarked on an ambitious project to modernize its technological infrastructure. The war had highlighted the crucial role of mathematics and computational analysis in military and scientific endeavors. The development of electronic computers was seen as vital to achieving parity with the West, particularly in the fields of ballistics, cryptography, and rocket science.

The USSR, however, faced unique challenges:

• A lack of access to early Western computing developments, as information about the first computers was still largely classified.
• Political and ideological restrictions that prioritized military applications over civilian use.
• The absence of a structured computer industry and trained workforce in comparison to the United States and Great Britain.

Despite these challenges, the Soviet Union succeeded in developing their own computers with some notable successes, the first of which was the BESM series.

The BESM-1 (Big Electronic Calculating Machine) was the first of the BESM series, designed and developed by the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering (ITM and VTS) in Moscow under the direction of Sergei Alekseyevich Lebedev. This machine became operational in 1951 and was considered a significant milestone in the Soviet computing effort.

Technical Specifications of BESM-1 #

• Type: Stored-program electronic computer.
• Architecture: Binary with word length of 7 bits.
• Input/Output: The machine used punched cards and paper tape for input/output operations. It was equipped with a teleprinter for communication.
• Memory: It used a magnetic drum memory for storage, capable of holding around 1,000 words at a time.
• Speed: Capable of performing 3,000 operations per second (roughly 1,000 times slower than modern-day processors).
• Computing Elements: The BESM-1 featured a combination of vacuum tubes and electronic components, making it an early example of transistor-less computers.
• Programming: The machine was programmed using machine code instructions.

Unique Features and Limitations #

1. Magnetic Drum Storage: The use of magnetic drum memory was a notable feature of the BESM-1. This was a common technology in early computers, providing a relatively fast and cheap alternative to vacuum tube-based memory systems.

2. Binary Arithmetic: BESM-1 performed calculations using binary arithmetic, which at the time was an innovative approach for Soviet computing devices.

3. Secrecy and Isolation: Like many early Soviet technological developments, the BESM-1 was highly secretive. The machine’s development was closely guarded, and information about its specifications and usage were limited to military and scientific research institutions.

4. Limited Capacity: While impressive for its time, the BESM-1 had very limited processing power compared to its Western counterparts. With only 7-bit word lengths, it could handle basic calculations but was inefficient for large-scale computations.

While the BESM-1 represented a remarkable achievement, it was soon overshadowed by more advanced systems, particularly the BESM-2, which was introduced in 1959.

BESM-2 (1959) #

• Improved Speed: The BESM-2 was significantly faster than its predecessor, capable of performing 25,000 operations per second.
• Memory Capacity: It could handle 32,000 words of memory, which was a substantial increase over the BESM-1.
• Programming: The BESM-2 was designed to be more flexible, capable of running a broader set of mathematical applications, and able to support higher-level programming languages.

The BESM-2 laid the groundwork for future Soviet computing systems, which would go on to support space exploration, cryptographic decryption, and military calculations. This computer, along with others in the Soviet Union, continued to be highly secretive and its details were not publicly available until after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The BESM computers were not the first to be built in the world, but they were among the first in the Soviet Union to perform significant computations. They were revolutionary in the context of the USSR’s technological ambitions and were used in a wide variety of scientific, military, and industrial applications.

After the BESM-2, the Soviet Union continued to develop more advanced systems, culminating in the Elbrus series of supercomputers in the 1970s, which were used extensively in military research, and the Vektor series, which was later developed for civilian and scientific computing.

Today, the early Soviet computers like the BESM-1 are regarded as pioneering machines in the history of computing. While they were not as fast or versatile as Western systems of the time, their development proved the Soviet Union’s resolve in entering the global computing race during the Cold War.

The first Soviet computer, the BESM-1, marks an important chapter in the history of early computing. It demonstrates the resilience and ambition of the Soviet Union in the face of technological and geopolitical challenges. Its development paved the way for future Soviet technological advancements, contributing to space exploration, military strategy, and scientific discovery.

As we look back through this time capsule of Soviet computing history, we are reminded of the foundational contributions made by countries around the world, even in times of great secrecy and adversity. The BESM series remains an iconic symbol of Soviet determination to create a digital future despite being largely isolated from global technological discourse.

serves as a tribute to the innovators and engineers who built the first Soviet computers, and as a testament to the evolution of global computing technologies that have shaped the modern digital age.

The Soviet computing era, especially during the early days of computing technology, is filled with fascinating technical developments and historical intricacies. While the Soviet Union is often overshadowed in popular discourse by the advancements in Western computing, its contributions were both significant and unique. Below, we will explore further technical aspects and historical details that provide a deeper understanding of Soviet computing, particularly around computers like the BESM series and the Elbrus systems.

I. Technical Aspects of Early Soviet Computers #

1. Vacuum Tubes and Magnetic Drums #

Early Soviet computers, such as the BESM-1, were built using vacuum tubes, which were the primary technology for early electronic computing. This choice of technology was dictated by the technological limitations of the time, as transistor technology was not yet fully developed or widely available in the USSR. Vacuum tubes allowed the computers to perform binary calculations, but they were large, inefficient, and prone to failure.

The BESM-1 used magnetic drum storage as its primary memory system, which was also a common early storage solution in the West. A magnetic drum is essentially a cylindrical object coated with a magnetic material that can store data in the form of bits. These drums were relatively fast for their time, allowing computers like the BESM-1 to store and retrieve instructions, but they had limited capacity, with the BESM-1’s drum holding only 1,000 words of data.

2. 7-Bit Word Length and Binary Arithmetic #

The 7-bit word length of the BESM-1 was quite unusual. Most computers of the time used 8-bit or 6-bit systems, but the Soviet Union opted for the 7-bit word, which allowed for 128 unique values per word. This choice reflected the needs of early Soviet applications in military and scientific calculations, where specialized arithmetic and compact data storage were paramount.

The binary system of arithmetic was foundational to Soviet computing, just as it was to early computers in the West. Unlike decimal-based systems, binary uses two states (0 and 1) to represent all data. The adoption of binary arithmetic laid the groundwork for more sophisticated computing techniques and programming.

3. Use of Transistors and Semiconductor Technology #

By the late 1950s, transistors began to replace vacuum tubes in Soviet computing systems, which led to increased reliability and efficiency. The BESM-2 was one of the early machines to implement transistorized circuits.

In fact, the Soviet Union was a pioneer in semiconductor research. Though the USSR had limited access to Western technologies like silicon chips, they developed their own germanium-based transistors in the 1950s. While the US and UK transitioned to silicon as a semiconductor material, the Soviet Union continued to use germanium, which was a cheaper but less efficient alternative.

This reliance on germanium kept the Soviet computing systems competitive in some respects but also hampered performance compared to their Western counterparts, who by the 1960s were making the shift to silicon-based microprocessors.

1. Secrecy and State Control #

The development of early Soviet computers was heavily influenced by the Cold War. The USSR considered computers a vital tool for both military and civilian technological advancement. However, the development was done under extreme secrecy, as the Soviet Union wanted to maintain a technological advantage over the United States and its NATO allies.

The Soviet leadership, particularly under Stalin and later Khrushchev, believed that computing power could give the USSR an edge in strategic and military planning. As a result, computing research was not publicly shared, and many of the details surrounding early Soviet systems were kept classified until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In fact, the BESM computers were initially designed for military applications such as ballistics calculations and cryptography. It wasn’t until later that they were also employed for civilian scientific and economic research.

2. The Space Race and Military Applications #

One of the most significant political drivers for Soviet computing was the space race. Computers played a critical role in the Soviet Union’s efforts to compete with the United States’ NASA program. Soviet space missions such as Sputnik 1 and the Vostok series relied heavily on advanced computing systems for calculating trajectories, managing communications, and performing telemetry.

Sergei Korolev, the Soviet space engineer, heavily relied on BESM-2 for aerospace calculations. In fact, many of the early Soviet computing developments were tied to the rocket programs and military defense systems, reinforcing the idea that early computers were largely a military tool in the USSR.

III. The Elbrus Systems and the Evolution of Soviet Computing #

1. The Transition to Supercomputing: The Elbrus Series #

As computing technology advanced in the West, the Soviet Union faced the growing challenge of developing competitive supercomputing technology. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviet Union embarked on creating the Elbrus series of supercomputers, which became the pinnacle of Soviet computational technology.

The Elbrus-1, released in 1973, was the first Soviet computer based on the "vector processor" architecture. It was designed to handle large-scale computations needed for scientific research, nuclear simulations, and military applications.

Technical Aspects of the Elbrus Series: #

• Vector Processor Architecture: The Elbrus-1 featured a vector processing unit, allowing for the parallel processing of large sets of data, a crucial feature for the scientific computing and cryptography demands of the Soviet government.
• Instruction Set Architecture (ISA): The Elbrus series used an original instruction set, which was incompatible with existing Western computing systems. This approach allowed for specialized tasks in scientific computing but also meant the system could not easily exchange data or software with Western systems.
• Parallelism: Elbrus systems were designed to run multiple computations in parallel, an early form of parallel processing that would become a cornerstone of modern computing.

2. The Decline of Soviet Computing #

Despite the achievements of the BESM and Elbrus series, Soviet computing faced limitations that hampered their global competitiveness. The lack of access to global semiconductor innovations, the use of proprietary architectures, and the political isolation of the USSR kept Soviet computing in a technological silo.

The Soviet Union also struggled to keep pace with the rapid advances made in the West in microelectronics, software development, and networked systems. By the 1980s, the USSR had fallen behind in the race to develop personal computers and networked systems.

IV. Legacy and Influence #

The legacy of the BESM and Elbrus systems is still felt today, though much of their technical influence is often overlooked in favor of Western computing achievements. The Soviet approach to computer architecture—especially the use of vector processors and proprietary instruction sets—laid the groundwork for many of the high-performance computing systems that followed.

The Elbrus series was ahead of its time, pushing the boundaries of supercomputing and parallel processing. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many of the Elbrus technologies were absorbed into Russian computer science, and the Elbrus architecture has been revived in modern Russian supercomputing.

Additionally, the secrecy and military-driven development of Soviet computers set the stage for the modern concept of military-grade encryption and secure computing, which would later play a pivotal role in the development of cryptography, cybersecurity, and blockchain technologies.

V. Consider #

The Soviet Union’s contributions to the field of computing were foundational, but often overlooked due to the political and technological isolation of the USSR. The BESM series, Elbrus systems, and other early Soviet computers were instrumental in advancing scientific, military, and industrial computing, and their legacy lives on in both Russian and global computing innovations today.

As we preserve the history of computing for future generations, it is essential to recognize the significance of the first Soviet computers, not just as machines, but as symbols of technological ambition in the face of geopolitical adversity. These early Soviet systems, while not as famous as their American counterparts, represent an important chapter in the shared history of global technological development.