Sergey B Oganjanyan

Valery V Shilov
email: vshilov@hse.ru

Sergey A Silantiev
email: ssilantiev@hse.ru

Armenian Computers: First Generations

Keywords:

Armenia was one of the leading centers of Soviet electronic and computer industry. The first in the USSR semiconductor computer, Razdan-2, was designed and built in Armenia in 1960. Armenian computers of the Nairi series for a decade were one of the main calculating facilities of Soviet scientists and engineers. This article is about the first period of the development of Armenian computer technology.

Introduction

After the end of the Second World War, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic began a rapid development of its industry, including electrotechnical branch. Large enterprises began to work in the capital of the Republic -Yerevan and other cities of Armenia. This caused the need of training highly qualified specialists in Armenian universities. Armenia did not have a rich raw material and energy base, so emphasis was made on training specialists in natural sciences. Several well-known Armenian scientists in the mid-1950s proposed to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia to develop a new scientific and technical direction for the Republic, focusing on electronics and computer technology. The party accepted the proposal and sent it to the Central Committee of the CPSU. By that time, the Soviet leadership had already understood the important role of the computer technology and realized the necessity to liquidate the backlog in this field from the U.S. [START_REF] Krayneva | Development of Soviet science and technology policy in the field of computer hardware and programming (late 1940s -mid 1950s)[END_REF][START_REF] Krayneva | Soviet computer engineering in the context of economy, education and ideology (late 1940-s -mid 1950-s)[END_REF]. The Armenian SSR became one of several regions of the USSR that were chosen to implement the program for the creation of big plants and scientific institutions for the development of computer technology. On 29 June 1956, Resolution No. 897 of the USSR Council of Ministers was adopted: "On the Organization in the Armenian SSR Research Institutes, R&D Bureaus and Instrument-Making Plants in the Structure of the Ministry of Instrument Making and Automation." In particular, it was prescribed to organize a research institute of mathematical machines in Yerevan and a research institute of automation in Kirovakan (now Vanadzor).

On 14 July 1956, the Yerevan Scientific Research Institute of Mathematical Machines (YerNIIMM) was established. The leading role in YerNIIMM activity was played by young mathematician Sergey Mergelyan (Fig. 1), who was appointed as the first head of the institute, and Bogdan Melik-Shakhnazarov was appointed as the chief engineer. Mergelyan (1928Mergelyan ( -2008) ) was an extraordinary person and a great scientist. He was the youngest Ph.D. in the history of the USSR (his degree was awarded at the age of 20), the youngest corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (since 1953, the title was awarded at the age of 24), and the youngest academician of Armenian Academy of Sciences (since 1956). Mergelyan's theorem, which gives the complete solution of the problem of approximation by polynomials, is recognized as classical. He also played outstanding role in the history of Armenian computing. A detailed story of his life is presented in [START_REF] Apoyan | Essay on mathematician and not just about him. Boston Independent almanac[END_REF][START_REF] Oganjanyan | Sergey Mergelyan: Triumph and Tragedy[END_REF]. In 1957, the Computing Center of the Armenian Academy of Sciences and the Yerevan State University was established. It was closely related with YerNIIMM. In the "YerNIIMM Statute" the main tasks were determined, including:

• carrying out research, theoretical and design work on the design of mathematical digital machines; • manufacture of electronic digital computers (EDC); • identification of the needs of the USSR national economy in EDC [START_REF] Oganjanyan | Electronics and Informatics Development in Armenian SSR[END_REF].

Divisions for the development and implementation of computer technology were organized. There were design department, department of automatic systems design, de-partment of mathematical support and testing, subdivision of system analysis and design, electronic design, laboratory for testing of electronic devices and subdivision for working out technical documentation. In order to develop the electronic devices and computers, a special factory was organized in 1960 as a YerNIIMM subdivision. It produced and tested prototypes and formulated technological requirements before the equipment was transferred to serial production. This organization made it possible to achieve high efficiency, working jointly with many research institutes and factories within the framework of established cooperation. In 1961, the Electron factory was built in Yerevan for industrial assembly of computers.

YerNIIMM's first employees were graduates of the electrotechnical faculty of Yerevan Polytechnic Institute (YerPI), the physical-mathematical faculty of Yerevan State University (YerSU), and invited graduates from universities of Moscow, Leningrad and other cities of the USSR. Also, a group of scientists from YerPI and YerSU with a wide research experience was involved in the work (L. Grigoryan, A. Sagoyan, A. Edigaryan, M. Ayvazyan, R. Kazaryan, etc.).

2

The M-3 Computer: The First Experience

Starting from 1953, the development of the M-3 computer designed for engineering calculations was started under the leadership of Nikolay Matyukhin in Moscow at the Laboratory of electrical systems of the Energy Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (director: Isaak Bruk). This work was not included in the national plan and was conducted jointly with the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics (VNIIEM; director: Academician Andronik Iosifyan). For this reason, the project could have remained unrealized. However, Soviet scientists and engineers at that time had an acute shortage of computing facilities. Three organizations -Sergey Korolev's R&D bureau (the leading institution of the Soviet space launchers program), VNIIEM, and the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR -decided to produce three M-3 prototypes for their needs. The first prototype was produced in 1956, debugged, and at the end of the same year was presented to the State Commission. According to the memoirs of well-known engineer Boris Kagan, "State Commission ... did not want to adopt the computer: they say, it was built illegally. But finally Commission had approved the project. But even in this case it was not possible for two years to solve a problem -to start serial production of M-3 computer."

The small-sized digital vacuum tube M-3 computer was intended for utilization at research institutes and R&D bureaus. The first exemplar was left in VNIIEM (Moscow) for testing, the second one was intended for the Yerevan Mathematical Institute of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, and the third for Sergey Korolev's R&D bureau. However, in 1956 YerNIIMM was founded and it was decided to send one M-3 computer there for test operation (see Figure 2 for basic parameters of the M-3).

In 1957-1958 at YerNIIMM under the leadership of B. Melik-Shakhnazarov, V. Rusanevich, and others, and with the participation of the staff of the Institute of Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia (G. Ter-Mikaelyan, A. Pipinov, and others), in a very short time, modernization, assembly and adjustment of the M-3 computer was fulfilled. The modernization consisted in the introduction of new RAM on ferrite cores (1024 words). This allowed increasing the speed of the computer from 30 to 3000 ops. The M-3 served as a prototype for two industrial series of computers: Minsk and GOAR (later renamed to "Razdan"). Thus, the creation of the M-3 computer played crucial role in the development and production of electronic computers in Armenia and another Soviet Republic: Belarus. Moreover, the first Hungarian electronic computer (which was also named M-3) and the first Chinese electronic computer 103 were almost entirely made on the basis of Soviet M-3 computer specifications [START_REF] Kovács | M-3: Towards the History of the First Generation Computer[END_REF].

Further Developments

By 1960, the main directions of the YerNIIMM research were defined as following:

• development and implementation of small-and medium-sized computers;

• development of specialized computer systems and automated control systems for unique purposes [START_REF] Oganjanyan | Electronics and Informatics Development in Armenian SSR[END_REF].

Research was also carried out in the fields of electronics, computer architecture design, software and test support, automation, power supply and storage devices, etc. Already in the years of 1958-1960, several computers of the first generation (on vacuum tubes) were developed in YerNIIMM: Aragats (chief designer: B. Khaikin), Razdan-1 (chief designer: E. Brusilovsky), and Yerevan (chief designer: M. Aivazyan).

Several researchers from the programming department of the Institute of Mathematics of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk) were sent to Yerevan to help their Armenian colleagues (team leader: A. Merenkov). Tests were successfully completed in May 1960. Thus, Aragats (Fig. 3), Razdan and Yerevan became the first Armenian computers. The State Commission highly appreciated this work and recommended the smallscale production of the Aragats computer. A total of four these computers were produced. The main designers were V. Karapetyan, A. Kuchukyan, V. Chiganov, S. Mkrtchyan, L. Asoyan, V. Grechka, R. Arutynyan, V. Arustamyan, V. Meleshchenko, and some others. See Fig. 4 for the basic paramaters of this computer.

It is worthwhile to mention that Aragats computer was the first Soviet computer shipped abroad: one exemplar was delivered to Hungary.

Arithmetic

Floating

Razdan-2 and Razdan-3

In 1958-1960 in YerNIIMM was designed the first computer in the USSR, completely assembled on semiconductor devices (chief designer: E. Brusilovsky, Fig. 5). It was the universal small-size computer Razdan-2 (Fig. 6). The primary storage made on ferrite cores of this computer consisted of 3,777 words 36-bits. Access time was 24 µs. To expand the range of tasks that required more memory, the computer was provided with an external storage device -a magnetic tape drive. The capacity of external storage device was 120,000 numbers; reading speed was 2,000 numbers per second. The data input was from punched tape. I/O devices provided data input to the computer from a photo-reading device on perforated film at a speed of 35 numbers per second and output of the results of calculations to the printer at a speed of 20 numbers per second. Basic parameters of this computer are shown in Fig. 7. Razdan-2 computers after modernization had been introduced in mass production since 1961, and in 1962 it was with great success exhibited at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy in Moscow. On the basis of the Razdan-2, the first mobile computing center for military purpose (1963-1968) was built in the USSR. In official documents the project was called as "Mobile computing center," or the "Platform" object [START_REF] Oganjanyan | Electronics and Informatics Development in Armenian SSR[END_REF]. In 1963, in order to effect the standardization of computer elements for the first time in the Soviet Union, the unified constructive complex "Magnesium" was developed based on the most advanced technologies at that time: semiconductor devices and printed wiring (chief designer: V. Karapetyan). The main ideas, design characteristics and technologies of Magnesium were laid in the basis of the Razdan-3 computer (Fig. 8) and some other computers. The Razdan-3 computer (1965; chief designer: V. Rusanevich) had an average performance of 15,000-20,000 ops and 32 kB of main storage [START_REF]Razdan-3" universal digital computer[END_REF]. This computer was recognized as one of the most advanced Soviet computers of the second generation and became one of the first exported Soviet computers. Its production was organized at the experimental YerNIIMM and at the Electron factory. Less known are other developments of the YerNIIMM second-generation computers -Araks (1964, Fig. 9), Masis (1965, Fig. 10), [START_REF]Masis-1" digital computer[END_REF] and Dvin (1967).

5

Nairi and Nairi-2

Especially it is worthwhile to mention the most known, mass-produced small computers of the Nairi series: Nairi, Nairi-2, Nairi-3, Nairi-3-1, Nairi-3-2, Nairi-3-3. (The name comes from ancient Armenian territory, which the Assyrians in the second millennium BC called the "country of Nairi," that is, a "country of rivers").

The development of the first and second models of the Nairi computer was carried out in 1962-1964. It became the first widely used Soviet small computer. The specific characteristics of Nairi computers, which are very similar to main features of modern PCs, were simple maintenance, reduced dimensions, high reliability, and, most importantly, easy learning for specialists in any field of science and technology.

The designer of these computers was Grachya Ovsepyan (born in 1933) (Fig. 11). In 1946, he and his family immigrated to Armenia from Lebanon. Ovsepyan graduated from Faculty of Physics of the Yerevan State University and then with great difficulty got the position of a laboratory assistant in recently organized classified YerNIIMM institute. He worked at the department of E. Brusilovsky, who developed the Razdan computer (the dramatic fate of G. Ovsepyan is described in [START_REF] Apoyan | Nairi: the triumph and drama[END_REF][START_REF] Oganjanyan | Nairi" Computer Series -Harbingers of the Personal Computer[END_REF]). In 1962 at the International computer exhibition in Moscow, Soviet leaders became acquainted with the French CAB-500 transistor computer. They were so impressed that decided to create a similar computer in the USSR. By this time, Ovsepyan's authority was so great that this work -and in fact development the computer of a new class, the small computer -was assigned to him.

Ovsepyan could not accept the demands of the Ministry of Instrument Making to develop a computer fully similar to French CAB-500. He clearly understood that the existing technologies in the USSR would not allow this. He decided to compensate for the technological deficiencies with the originality of technical solutions. Ovsepyan decided to use the microprogram control principle, and its implementation was completely original. Perhaps the lack of technologies played a certain positive role, forcing the developers of Nairi to go their own way.

In the technical specification of his computer, Ovsepyan provided the following principles:

1. The computer must be of parallel operation, i.e., when performing arithmetic operations, all the digits of a number should be read at once (not bitwise reading, as in computers of sequential operation). 2. The microprogram control principle should be used in construction. 3. Programs and microprograms are stored in a permanent memory of a large volume, implemented on removable cassettes. 4. For the arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a unified universal adder register should be used, which is also a buffer register for the main storage and external devices. 5. For the auxiliary registers of ALU and the control device, eight fixed memory cells with direct micro-command access should be used. 6. There should be a micro-program simulation of existing computers software. 7. Additional special microprogram and microcommand means should be developed for the implementation of special task algorithms. Fundamentally new circuit designs and advanced software aimed at solving engineering problems arising in engineering practice allowed Ovsepyan to form the basic architecture of the whole Nairi family of small computers, which was patented in many countries. The Nairi (Fig 12) has become one of the most widespread small computers in the USSR, which found wide application in industry, research and higher educational institutions. Let us consider some of the patented solutions. For the first time for small computers in the early 1960s, a 36-bit processor architecture was proposed. It used also an arithmetic unit of a parallel type with through bit carry executed arithmetic and logical operations on numbers and commands. It consisted of one 36-bit universal register-adder. Groups of fixed cells of computer random access memory were used as the additional registers. For each fixed cell, the microoperations of reading and writing were determined, which ensured independence of entire memory cycle and a great increase in performance. The performance of Nairi for fixed-point numbers addition was 2,000-3,000 ops, for fixed-point numbers multiplication 100 ops, and for operations on floating-point numbers 100 ops [START_REF]Brief technical description[END_REF].

Cassette type long-term memory (8 cassettes with a total capacity of 16,384 words) became a fundamentally new feature of computer architecture. It was used for two purposes: for organization of microprograms memory and for storing the built-in software. The choice of address for reading the necessary information was performed by decoder. The necessary length of micro-commands (72 bits) was provided by simultaneous reading of information from two cassettes. The rest of capacity (14,000, 36-bit words) was allocated for the storage of compilers from Assembler and BASIC languages, software packages for solving differential equations, linear algebra tasks, programs for direct calculation of various arithmetic expressions in interactive mode, programs for control of typewriter and punch tape I/O device, for charts and diagrams plotting. Part of the memory was designated for technological programs for testing all units both during computer manufacturing and operation. The memory cycle time (12 μs) made it possible to realize the entire range of tasks with time characteristics better than foreign small computers where magnetic drums were used as software storage devices.

Starting in 1964, the computer was manufactured at two factories: in Armenia and at Kazan computer factory. More than 600 computers were produced for the period from 1964 to 1970.

The most distinctive features of Nairi were shown at the jubilee International Leipzig Fair in spring of 1965 where small computers of various firms and countries were presented, such as England's ICL, France's Bull, Germany's Zuse, etc. The Nairi was the only microprogram 36-bit computer, which provided high performance and increased accuracy of calculations (other computers were 8 and 16 bits). The Nairi outperformed the competition because software was stored in a long-term storage device while in other computers it was stored in external devices such as a magnetic drum.

There were several varieties of Nairi:

• Nairi-M (1965) differed from the basic model by the set of external units (the punched tape input device FS-1500 was produced in Czechoslovakia and the output punched tape device PL-80 at Kazan typewriter factory); • Nairi-S (1967) had a "Consul-254" electrified typewriter with a thyristor block developed at Kazan factory; • Nairi-K (1967) differed from Nairi-S by memory capacity (it was increased up to 4,096 words).

The next model of the Nairi computer family was Nairi-2, developed in 1966. It is essentially a modification of the Nairi computer. The main characteristics of this computer were the increased capacity of RAM, utilization of more productive I/O devices and improved design solutions. It had memory on ferrite cores (10 thousand cores of 2 mm diameter in each block of 20´20 cm dimension). A long-term memory on the magnetic drum was also developed.

The Nairi-2 computer became the last computer of the second generation developed in Armenia. Nairi-3 (1970), realized on hybrid integrated circuits, belonged already to the third generation. This computer together with other computers of third generation, designed by Armenian scientists and engineers, deserves the separate consideration.

Conclusion

Armenian computers contributed significantly to the development of electronics and computer technology in the USSR. Along with computers of the Ural and Minsk series, they formed the basis of national computing in 1960-1970s. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, having passed through all the stages of the world practice in the development of computer technology, became one of the leading centers in the USSR for developing computer hardware and software systems. Armenian computers contributed significantly to the development of electronics and computer technology in the USSR. Along with computers of the Ural and Minsk series, they formed the basis of national computing in 1960-1970s.

In the modern world, the next technological revolution is taking place, the transition from a post-industrial society to an information society. Armenia does not have a rich raw material and energy base and can ensure a deserving position on the international labor market only by participating in the production of certain demanded computer and information technologies. The development of computer technology and radio-electronics in the period from 1956 to 1988 allowed Armenia to achieve significant success in the development of science, education, and industry. Today in the country, there are strong scientific schools in the field of computer technologies, universities still training good specialists. The historical experience of the formation and development of the Armenian computer technology shows that if these factors are present, the country can successfully reach the leading position in the IT industry, which will lead to a general rise of its economy. Thus, it is important to learn such the experience, part of which is presented in this paper.

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. Sergey Mergelyan.

Fig. 2 .

 2 Fig. 2. Parameters of the M-3 computerElement baseSemiconductor diodes and 774 vacuum tubes (including 43 tubes in power supplies) Arithmetic Signed fixed-point Number of bits 30 Commands Three-address Arithmetic unit Parallel Execution of basic arithmetical operations Addition: 60 µs Subtraction: 75-120 µs Multiplication: 1,900 µs Division: 2,000 µs Primary storage Magnetic drum with a parallel selection of 2048 capacity of 30-bit binary numbers Average performance 30 operations per second (ops) Power consumption 10 kW Occupied area About 3 square meters

Fig. 3 .

 3 Fig. 3. Aragats computer and disk drive cabinet.

Fig. 4 .

 4 Fig. 4. Main parameters of Aragats computer.

Fig. 5 .

 5 Fig. 5. E. Brusilovsky, Yu. Bostanjan, and B. Melik-Shakhnazarov (1959).

Fig. 6 .

 6 Fig. 6. The Razdan-2

Fig. 7 .

 7 Fig. 7. Main parameters of Razdan-2 computer.Element base Semiconductor devices; signed floating point arithmetic Command structure 17 (basic) two-address commands, each with eight modifications Number characteristics 36-bits binary Mantissa: 29 bits 5 digits Characteristic sign: 1 digit Average performance 5,000 ops Power supply From a three-phase alternating current network with a voltage of 220/380 V, frequency of 50 Hz Power consumption About 3 kW Temperature regime From 10 to 25°C Occupied area 20 square meters

Fig. 8 .

 8 Fig. 8. The Razdan-3 computer.

Fig. 9 .

 9 Fig. 9. The Arax computer.

Fig. 10 .

 10 Fig. 10. The Masis computer.

Fig. 11 .

 11 Fig. 11. Grachya Ovsepyan (1957).

Fig. 12 .

 12 Fig. 12. Nairi computer.


Vladimir A Kitov
email: vladimir.kitov@mail.ru

On the History of Gosplan, the Main Computer Center of the State Planning Committee of the USSR

Keywords: ASPR, Calculation of Economic Planning, EGSVC, Main Computer

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Main Computer Center (MCC) of the State Planning Committee (Gosplan) of the USSR was one of the largest civilian computer centers in the USSR and in Eastern Europe. Available historical literature contains only the basic facts about this center. In this article, the history of the Main Computer Center of the State Planning Committee of the USSR is supplemented and refined. The article describes the prerequisites for its creation, the transformation of its structure, the chronology of the use of various computers for economic calculations. The author reveals new facts about the Main Computer Center, its leading role in conducting economic calculations on computers, and its coordinating role in organizing the work of the computer centers of the planning committees of the union republics and other socialist countries. This work is based on the works of Soviet computer scientists and historians, on official materials, on the personal memories and archive of the author (who worked as a programmer in the Main Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee in the 1970s) and on the memories and personal archives of his former colleagues.

Prerequisites for Creation the Main Computing Center of the USSR State Planning Committee

In October 1959, as a result of initiatives and publications of a number of progressive domestic scientists, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a decree on the creation of a computer center under the State Planning Committee of the USSR whose main goal would be to ensure calculations on economic plans throughout the country. This computer center, which since 1963 became known as the Main Computing Center (MCC) of the State Planning Committee (Gosplan) of the USSR, existed for more than thirty years until the second half of 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed.

In the 1950s, before the appearance in the USSR State Planning Committee of its own computing center, there were already computer centers in the USSR, such as the Computer Center No. 1 of the Ministry of Defense, the Computer Center (CC) of the Academy of Sciences, CC of the Moscow State University, CC of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, CC at the Institute of applied mathematics, CCs of the nuclear centers Arzamas-16 and Chelyabinsk-70 and for the secret research institute Almaz.

Soviet scientists A. I. Kitov, I. S. Brook, V. S. Nemchinov and A. I. Berg, in the 1950s, wrote letters to the Soviet leaders and other publications [START_REF] Sobolev | The main features of cybernetics[END_REF][START_REF] Kitov | Electronic Digital Machines[END_REF][START_REF] Brook | Prospects for the use of control machines in automation[END_REF][START_REF] Kitov | Electronic Computers" // All-Union Society[END_REF][START_REF] Berg | On the possibilities of automating the management of the national economy" / / First report in the USSR on the need to establish the National Automated System of Economic Management of the USSR[END_REF] strongly recommending that leaders of the USSR use computers to solve problems of economic planning and management. Thus, in the article "The Main Features of Cybernetics" (the first positive publication on cybernetics in the Soviet Union, August 1955), S. L. Sobolev, A. I. Kitov and A. A. Lyapunov declared the enormous possibilities of using computers and mathematical methods to solve the problems of the economy. The final part of A. Kitov's monograph Electronic Digital Machines (the first book on computers in the USSR, published in February 1956) is devoted to the use of computers for solving economic problems. It is called "Non-Arithmetic Applications of Electronic Digital Computers." In 1956, I. S. Brook at the meeting of the Academy of Sciences made a presentation on a number of problems of using medium-power computers to automate the management of processes in industrial enterprises. 1958 was marked by the publication of A. Kitov's book Electronic Computers from the publishing house of the All-Union Society "Knowledge." This book, published in mass circulation, describes the need to create in the USSR many computer centers for making calculations for the needs of planning and production. A. I. Kitov noted that in the future these computer centers should be integrated into a single network with the goal of creating USNCC (United State Network of Computing Centers of the USSR). The proposal of A. Kitov on the need to create the USNCC (EGSVC in Russian) was a prototype of the current Internet project. V. S. Nemchinov, a passionate propagandist of advanced economic approaches, was one of the main organizers in 1958 of All-Union Conference on the use of mathematical methods for solving economic problems.

On 7 January 1959, A. I. Kitov sent a letter to the head of the USSR, N. S. Khrushchev. This letter contained a proposal to restructure the entire system of economic management in the country, moving from an administrative-command style to a scientific one, based on extensive use of computers and mathematical methods. Moreover, in the indicated letter all major computers of the country were proposed in several stages to be linked to the united network, called USNCC. The Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Leonid Brezhnev, responsible in those years for scientific and technical issues, mostly approvingly approached Kitov's letter and created for its consideration a governmental commission, headed by A. I. Berg. The members of this commission supported all the statements of this letter from Kitov [START_REF] Kuteynikov | ASU for the USSR: Letter of A[END_REF].

Well-known experts in the field of the history of Soviet computer science (V. Gerovich, V. Shilov and A. Kuteinikov) believe that Kitov's letter played a catalytic role in the process of increasing the number of computers produced in the country [START_REF] Kuteinikov | The first projects of automation of the management of the Soviet planned economy in the late 1950s and early 1960s. -"electronic socialism"?[END_REF][START_REF] Kuteynikov | The fate of the original idea of A. I. Kitov, the project to create an automated system for managing the Soviet economy (OGAS) // Scientific works of the Free Economic Society of Russia[END_REF][START_REF] Kuteynikov | ASU for the USSR: Letter of A[END_REF][START_REF] Kuteinikov | Thesis "The project of the State Management System for the Management of Soviet Economy (OGAS) and the problems of its implementation in the 1960-1980s[END_REF][START_REF] Gerovich | From Newspeak to Cyberspeak: Soviet Cybernetics as a Vehicle of Reform and a Bandwagon// Science[END_REF]. In particular, this letter contributed to the preparation of the statements of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, held in June 1959. This Plenum considered a set of problems on the creation of computers in the USSR and their use for the needs of the national economy. In the same year, the All-Union Conference on Computational Mathematics and Computer Science was organized, on the cybernetic section of which Kitov made a report "On the Possibilities of Automating the Management of the National Economy" (co-authors A. I. Berg and A. A. Lyapunov). This report was the first in the country and in the world about the urgent need to implement the nationwide project "State Automated System for Economic Management and Planning." This report was subsequently published as a separate article in the scientific collection of the USSR Academy of Sciences "Problems of Cybernetics." Finally, in October 1959, as a result of these publications and proposals on the urgent need to organize a separate computer center in the country for carrying out routine economic calculations, the deputy chair of the USSR Council of Ministers, Alexei Kosygin, signed a special resolution on this. It was prescribed to create in the State Planning Committee of the USSR (Gosplan of the USSR), a computer center for the purposes of computer planning and economic calculations.

The Tasks of the Main Computer Center of the State Planning Committee of the USSR and Its Development

Gosplan of the USSR operated from 1963 to 1991 at the status of a state ministry. Its two main tasks were planning of the development of the national economy and control over the implementation of government plans. The planning of a centralized socialist economy can be represented in the form of a four-tier hierarchical system:

• The first level was the planning of the socialist economy on the scale of the entire USSR. This was implemented by the State Planning Committee of the USSR. • The second level was the economic planning for 15 Soviet republics (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). This was done by the State Planning Committees of the republics of the USSR.

• At the third level, economic planning was carried out for the regions of the Soviet republics. This was done by the regional planning commissions.

• At the fourth level, economic planning was carried out for districts and cities that were part of the region. This was done by district and city planning commissions.

In its work, the USSR State Planning Committee was guided by: the CPSU Program, the directives of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and decisions of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

The main task of the Computing Center of the State Planning Committee was to assist the Gosplan in solving the problems of the first level using computers, i.e., in solving the problems of planning and monitoring the adopted plans throughout the USSR. Among the first computer tasks of the Computer Center were:

• development and practical application of economic-mathematical methods and models in planning and • demographic forecasting for the USSR and all of its 15 republics.

An important achievement of the Computer Center was the implementation of computer calculations of interbranch balances of production and distribution of the output of the national economy in a natural measure. This was done for the first time in the world. As a basis, the mathematical model of the Nobel Prize winner Wassily Leontief, a scientist with Russian roots, was taken. Before Leontief, the balance was a purely statistical document. Since 1975, the Main Computing Center has fully calculated all state plans on computers.

The attempt to implement ASPR (Automated System for Planned Calculations) was a large-scale project of the Main Computer Center. Its goal was to introduce long-term, medium-term, and short-term economic planning of the national economy of the USSR with the help of computers. This project was not implemented in full.

The first head of the Computer Center of the State Planning Committee of the USSR was M. E. Rakovsky.

In accordance with the decision of the Soviet Government, this center was rapidly growing, primarily due to the involvement of military specialists from the Computer Center No. 1 of the USSR Ministry of Defense. Ten years later, there were already about a thousand people working there, and it became one of the largest civilian computer centers in the USSR and Eastern Europe. It used the accumulated experience of the first in the Soviet Union the Computer Center No. 1 of the USSR Ministry of Defense. This military computer center, created in early May 1954, by 1960 already had a good experience in computer calculations for space missions of rockets and interplanetary stations. Priceless assistance to state planners was provided by military colleagues in the form of highly qualified personnel. In accordance with the decisions of the Soviet government, the positions of deputy heads of the Computer Center of the State Planning Committee in different years were occupied by well-known military scientists from the Computer Center No. 1 of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR: N. A. Krinitskiy, Yu. I. Bezzabotnov, and L. N. Kutsev.

In addition to the transfer of experienced professionals of all levels (from senior management to engineers, analysts and programmers), Computer Center No. 1 of the Ministry of Defense assisted in the deciding of defense planning tasks on computers. These tasks were performed by a large secret department of the Computer Center, to which the entire 10th floor of its building was provided.

The Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee also worked closely with several leading research institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Among them, it is necessary to single out the Central Economics and Mathematics In- The new building of the Main Computer Center was the first building in the country designed specifically for a computer center for civilian purposes. At that time, it was ideal for hosting large computers and specialists.

Approximately 50 percent of the staff of the Main Computer Center were men (chiefs, engineers, programmers, economists), and 50 percent were women (operators, perforators, programmers, economists). The State Planning Committee of the USSR was liquidated in 1991. After several transformations, the Main Computer Center became the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation in 2005.

Periods of Use of Various Computers

The government of the USSR, given the importance of the tasks to be performed at the Main Computer Center, generously allocated money (including currency) for the acquisition of modern computers. In its early years, the Soviet computers were used in the Computer Center. Two computers, Ural-2 and Ural-4, were used in the first half of the 1960s.

Later, western computers were acquired, such as Emidek-2400 and Elliot-503, as well as the mainframe ICL System

4

The Main Computer Center's Coordinating Role in the USSR and Socialist Countries

The Main Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee fulfilled the important role of intra-union and international coordination of the work of the computer centers of the planning committees of the republics of the USSR, on the one hand, and the computer centers of planning committees of socialist countries, on the other. On a regular basis, a methodical guide was provided for the computer centers of the planning committees of all the Union republics, which for this purpose were equipped with ES EVM computers.

In the late 1970s, a special board of directors of computer centers of planning committees of socialist countries was created. In this organization the Main Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee was the actual leader of the activities of its colleagues from the socialist countries. It organized on a regular basis working meetings of its colleagues in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

Conclusion

The article confirms that the Main Computer Center of the State Planning Committee of the USSR was the leading research and production center in the field of solving computer problems in the planning of the national socialist economy. In the USSR, its role was also important as one of the recognized computer centers -pioneers in the practical use of new information and communication technologies and advanced system and application programs. Very important was its coordinating role in organizing the work of the computer centers of the planning committees of the union republics and other socialist countries. Since 2005, the Main Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee has been called Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation.

  stitute and the Institute of Economics. In 1963, the Computer Center was named the Main Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee (the MCC of Gosplan of the USSR) in accordance with the Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 564, "On Improving the Management of the Introduction of Computer Technologies and Automated Management Systems in the National Economy," and continued to exist with this name until the end of 1991.

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. The building of the Main Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee in Moscow on the Kirov street (now Myasnitskaya street), 45

Fig. 2 .

 2 Fig. 2. 1972. Employees of the information retrieval systems subdepartment of the MCC of Gosplan of the USSR (author is on the left).

  4. The computers Emidek-2400 and Elliot-503 were used in the second half of the 1960s. Two ICL System 4-70 computers were used in the 1970s. Over its last ten years of work, the Main Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee carried out economic calculations on the domestic ES EVM computers. They were used in the 1980s. The first models of ES EVM computers (late 1960s/early 1970s) were clones of IBM System/360 computers. In the 1980s, later ES EVM models were developed by Soviet specialists.

Fig. 3 .

 3 Fig. 3. The computer Emidek-2400. ES EVM computers were the last type of computers used in the Main Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee until 1991. Work on ES EVM computers for specialists of the Main Computer Center was not a difficult task. There were several reasons for this: • In the USSR, a large network of training centers was created, providing a variety of educational literature on ES EVM hardware and software.

Fig. 4 .

 4 Fig. 4. 1972. In the Main Computer Center of the USSR State Planning Committee: leader of Cuba Fidel Castro, Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR N. N. Baibakov, and Head of the Computer Center N. P. Lebedinsky.

Acknowledgement. The author is grateful to the leading historians of Soviet computer science: Slava Gerovich, Valery Shilov, Nikolai Krotov, Benjamin Peters, and Alexei Kuteinikov. Communication with them was useful for him in his work.