S.A. Lebedev and the birth of Soviet computing

In this article, we study the life and work of Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev, one of the world´s pioneers in digital computing. Lebedev, working in Kiev, built the MESM, the first Soviet electronic digital stored-program computer (1947-1951). In 1950, Lebedev moved to Moscow, where he soon became the director of the newly established Institute of Precise Mechanics and Computer Technology. There he developed a long line of digital computers based on his work on the MESM. We examine in detail the first three of these machines: the BESM, the BESM-2 and the M-20. Lebedev achieved considerable success not only in the development of indigenous Soviet computers, but in the training of engineers, the founding of computer centers, and the establishment and nuturing of Soviet computing as a scientific discipline.<>