| Victor Glushkov
Russian: Виктор Михайлович Глушков |
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Portrait of Glushkov from an envelope
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| Born | August 24, 1923 Rostov-on-Don, USSR |
| Died | January 30, 1982 (aged 58) Moscow, USSR |
| Fields | cybernetics, control theory |
| Institutions | Institute of Cybernetics, Kiev |
| Alma mater | Rostov State University |
| Known for | pioneer of Soviet Computing |
| Notable awards |
Lenin Prize, USSR State Prizes, IEEE Computer Pioneer Award |
Victor Glushkov (August 24, 1923 – January 30, 1982) was the founding father of information technology in the Soviet Union (and specifically in Ukraine), and one of the founders of Cybernetics. He was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russian SFSR, in the family of a mining engineer. He graduated from Rostov State University in 1948, and in 1952 proposed solutions to the Hilbert's fifth problem and defended his thesis in Moscow State University.
In 1956 he began working in computer science and worked in Kiev as a Director of the Computational Center of the Academy of Science of Ukraine. In 1958 He became a member of the Communist Party.
He made contributions to the theory of automata. He and his followers (Kapitonova, Letichevskiy and other) successfully applied that theory to enhance construction of computers. His book on that topic "Synthesis of Digital Automata" became well known. For that work, he was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1964 and elected as a Member of the Academy of Science of USSR.
He greatly influenced many other fields of theoretical computer science (including the theory of programming and artificial intelligence) as well as its applications in USSR. He published nearly 800 printed works.
One of his great practical goals was the creation of a National Automatized System of Administration of Economy. That very ambitious and probably too early project started in 1962 and received great opposition from many communist leaders. He struggled for his ideas for years but the system won and the project stopped.
Glushkov founded a Kiev-based Chair of Theoretical Cybernetics and Methods of Optimal Control at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1967[1] and a Chair of Theoretical Cybernetics at Kiev State University in 1969.[2] The Institute of Cybernetics of National Academy of Science of Ukraine, which he created, is named after him.