BESM

BESM (БЭСМ) is the series of Soviet mainframe computers built in 1950–60s. The name is an acronym for "Bolshaya<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (or Bystrodeystvuyushchaya) <ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Elektronno-schotnaya Mashina" ("Большая электронно-счётная машина" or "Быстродействующая электронно-счётная машина"), meaning "Big Electronic Computing Machine" or "High-Speed Electronic Computing Machine". It was designed at the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering

Models

The BESM series included six models.

BESM-1

BESM-1, originally referred to as simply the BESM or BESM AN ("BESM Akademii Nauk", BESM of the Academy of Sciences), was completed in 1952.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Only one BESM-1 machine was built. The machine used approximately 5,000 vacuum tubes. At the time of completion, it was the fastest computer in Europe. The floating-point numbers were represented as 39-bit words: 32 bits for the mantissa, one bit for sign, and 1 + 5 bits for the exponent. It was capable of representing numbers in the range 10⁻⁹ – 10¹⁰. BESM-1 had 1024 words of read–write memory using ferrite cores, and 1024 words of read-only memory based on semiconducting diodes. It also had external storage: four magnetic tape units of 30,000 words each, and fast magnetic drum storage with a capacity of 5120 words and an access rate of 800 words/second. The computer was capable of performing 8–10 K Flops. The energy consumption was approximately 30 kW, not accounting for the cooling systems.

BESM-2

BESM-2 also used vacuum tubes.

BESM-3M and BESM-4

BESM-3M and BESM-4 were built using transistors. Their architecture was similar to that of the M-20 and M-220 series.Template:Cn The word size was 45 bits.Template:Cn Thirty BESM-4 machines were built. BESM-4 was used to create the first ever computer animation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The prototypes of both models were made in 1962–63, and the beginning of the series release was in 1964.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

EPSILON (a macro language with high-level features including strings and lists, developed by Andrey Ershov at Novosibirsk in 1967) was used to implement ALGOL 68 on the M-220.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

BESM-6

File:BESM-6 (London Science Museum).jpg

BESM-6 at London Science Museum

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The BESM-6 was the best-known and most influential model of the series. The design was completed in 1965. Production started in 1968 and continued for the following 19 years.<ref>Очерки по истории советской вычислительной техники и школ программирования (Издательство "Открытые Системы") [Essays on the history of Soviet computer technology and programming schools (Open Systems Publishing)], (in Russian), Template:Webarchive Google translation.</ref>

See also

• Sergei Alekseyevich Lebedev
• Lev Korolyov
• List of Soviet computer systems
• History of computing hardware
• History of computing in the Soviet Union
• List of vacuum tube computers

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite magazine A museum curator suggests Russia's BESM supercomputer may have been superior to the USA's supercomputers during the early stages of the Cold War.
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