On February 27, the Rossiya Segodnya press center hosted a press conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Academician Viktor Glushkov, an outstanding mathematician and cybernetician who laid the foundations of today's digitalization. Viktor Mikhailovich was the creator of the theory of digital automata, the theory and practice of designing computers, supercomputers with a new macro-conveyor architecture, and also developed a holistic project for a nationwide automated system for collecting and processing information for accounting, planning and managing the national economy of the USSR.
Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD RU/.РФ, was the moderator of the press conference. He spoke about the fact how a new educational module, dedicated to the Soviet legacy in the field of informatics and informatization is being developed within the framework of the educational project “Study the Internet & Govern It!”, which is being run by the Coordination Center and Rostelecom. “I am sure that the great scientist Viktor Glushkov will take his rightful place in this project,” Andrey Vorobyev added.
The press conference was addressed by:
- Ksenia Yekimova, professor, pro-rector of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics;
- Olga Kitova (Glushkova), Head of the Department of Informatics, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics;
- Igor Sokolov, Academician of Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Russian Academy of Science Information and Control Research Center, Dean of the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Member of the Scientific Council under the Russian Security Council;
- Alexei Semenov, RAS Academician, Director of the Institute of Cybernetics and Educational Informatics Federal Research Center IS RAS;
- Igor Ashmanov, President of Ashmanov and Partners and Cribrum;
- Olga Rubtsova, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Rector of the Academy of Innovative Education and Development
Glushkov’s daughter, Olga Kitova, gave a report on the life and research activities of the Academician. She said that Mr. Glushkov was an advisor on cybernetics to the UN Secretary General, a scientific supervisor and consultant of many international projects, and was also awarded the IEEE “Computer Pioneer” medal. His contribution to the development of world informatics and cybernetics is invaluable. In 1955, Victor Mikhailovich defended his doctoral thesis at Moscow State University, dedicated to the solution of Hilbert's fifth problem. Three years later, he put forward the idea of creating a universal control machine that could be used to control any complex technological process. As a result, the “Dnepr” computer was constructed and put into operation in 1961, with the help of which the process of turning liquid iron into cast steel was remotely controlled for the first time in Europe. He headed up the development of the first single-user Mir computer in the world in 1965. The academician's name is also associated with the history of creation of OGAS, the nationwide automated system for accounting and processing of information, which can be called the prototype of the modern Internet. And who knows what the Internet would be like today if the OGAS project had been implemented.
“Not all young specialists working in the IT sphere are aware of the groundwork created in our country for this area of development. The creation of the Internet and other innovative developments are attributed exclusively to scientists from the United States. At the same time, books about Glushkov's scientific legacy are published just in the U.S.,” said Andrey Vorobyev after Olga Kitova's speech.
“Glushkov saw not just the possibilities of computing machines, but the prospects of combining them into a network, creating large distributed computing structures,” noted Academician Igor Sokolov, Dean of the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics at Moscow State University. He called the idea of industrial management through such a network revolutionary, but noted that at that time there was no technical possibility for its implementation.
Academician Alexey Semyonov, Director of the Institute of Cybernetics and Educational Informatics of the Information and Management Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, called ensuring continuity of generations the most important task today. He spoke about the gift of Glushkov's precise vision of the future. Back in the seventies the academician Glushkov predicted the appearance of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets, which he called “electronic notebook”. Alexey Semyonov also spoke about the idea of digital immortality as understood by academician Glushkov.
Igor Ashmanov, president of Ashmanov & Partners and Cribrum, spoke about the importance of Academician V. M. Glushkov's scientific school for today's young generation, while Olga Rubtsova, rector of Association for Engineering Education of Russia, presented the “Teacher Who Conquered The Internet” teaching skills contest named after Academician Victor Glushkov. “We need to know about the people who created today's Russia. The year 2023 has been declared the Year of the Educator and Mentor, and we could not pass by the educators who educate the younger generation. A teacher who today competently uses digital technologies and teaches children to withstand the challenges of information is doing a very important job. And our contest will help identify such teachers,” said Olga Rubtsova.
You can learn more about the life and work of Academician Victor Mikhailovich Glushkov at https://glushkov.su/eng
A full recording of the press conference is available on the Coordination Center’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/0cMfW4fV65M
