Aksel Ivanovich Berg (russian: Аксель Иванович Берг; – 9 July 1979) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

scientist in radio-frequency engineering and Soviet Navy Admiral, Hero of Socialist Labour. He was a key figure in the introduction of cybernetics to the Soviet Union.

Early life

Berg's father was General Johan (Ivan) Berg, of

Finland-Swedish Finland Swedish or Fenno-Swedish ( sv, finlandssvenska; fi, suomenruotsi) is a general term for the variety of the Swedish language and a closely related group of Swedish dialects spoken in Finland by the Swedish-speaking population, commonly ...

origin, and his mother was

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

. Aksel was 11 when his father died, and Aksel was matriculated to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

navy school. Berg joined the Imperial Russian Navy in 1914 and served as junior navigating officer on the Russian battleship Tsesarevich and as liaison officer on the British submarine

HMS E8 HMS ''E8'' was a British E-class submarine built at Chatham Dockyard. She was laid down on 30 March 1912 and was commissioned on 18 June 1914. She cost £105,700. During World War I, she was part of the British submarine flotilla in the Baltic ...

, which was operating in the Baltic in alliance with Russia.

Soviet times

Before the German-Soviet war

After the revolution Berg served in the Red Navy 1918–22. In 1918 he participated in the

Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet The Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet (russian: Ледовый поход Балтийского флота) was an operation which transferred the ships of the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy from their bases at Tallinn, at the time kno ...

. In 1919 he was navigating officer on the submarine ''Pantera'' when it sank the British destroyer HMS ''Vittoria''. He subsequently commanded the submarines ''Rys'', ''Volk'' and ''Zmeya''. From 1925 Berg was based onshore and completed his education at the

Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, abbreviated as SPbPU (also, formerly "Saint Petersburg State Technical University", abbreviated as SPbSTU), is a Russian technical university located in Saint Petersburg. Other former names i ...

. From 1927 he was assigned to the navy radio electronics department and from 1932 to 1937 he headed the Navy Communications Research Institute.

Imprisoned and rehabilitated

During Stalin's purges, Berg was imprisoned for three years, but was freed and rehabilitated in 1940, when Stalin became interested in developing radar. Berg was immediately appointed as minister of electronic technology of the USSR. He developed the Redut-K air-warning radar which was placed aboard the light cruiser '' Molotov'' in April 1941. ''Molotov''´s device enabled her to play a key role in the air defense of

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

in the first stages of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

.Yakubov, Vladimir; Worth, Richard (2009). "The Soviet Light Cruisers of the Kirov Class". In Jordan, John. Warship 2009. London: Conway. p. 88.

After the war

After the war Berg directed the Radioelectronics Institute 1947–57 and was a Deputy Minister of Defence 1953–57. Then in 1958 he founded and led the Scientific Council on Complex Problems in Cybernetics. His main interests were radiolocation,

microelectronic Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-sc ...

s and

cybernetic Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson ma ...

s (i.e.

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

and

radio-frequency engineering Radio-frequency (RF) engineering is a subset of electronic engineering involving the application of transmission line, waveguide, antenna and electromagnetic field principles to the design and application of devices that produce or use signa ...

Death

Aksel Berg died in Moscow in 1979 and is buried at Novodevichy Cemetery. LETI Acsel Berg

Selected publications

Berg A., (1964), 'Cybernetics and Education' in ''The Anglo-Soviet Journal'', March 1964, pp. 13–20 (English language)

Honours and awards

* Hero of Socialist Labour (10 November 1963) Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet "for outstanding achievements in the development of radio engineering and in connection with the 70th anniversary of Aksel Ivanovich Berg" * Four

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (russian: Орден Октябрьской Революции, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferr ...

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of t ...

, twice *

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisa ...

, 1st class * Order of the Red Star, three times * Popov Gold Medal (13 April 1951) *

Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" The Medal "For the Victory Over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (russian: Медаль «За победу над Германией в Великой Отечественной войне 1941—1945 гг.») was a military de ...

Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of ...

Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" The Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" (russian: Юбилейная медаль «XX лет Рабоче-Крестьянской Красной Армии») was a state military commemorative medal of the Soviet Un ...

Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy" The Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy" (russian: Юбилейная медаль «30 лет Советской Армии и Флота») was a state military commemorative medal of the Soviet Union established on February 22 ...

Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" The Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (russian: Юбилейная медаль «40 лет Вооружённых Сил СССР») was a state military commemorative medal of the Soviet Union established on December 18, ...

Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" The Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (russian: Юбилейная медаль «50 лет Вооружённых Сил СССР») was a state military commemorative medal of the Soviet Union established on December 26, 1 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Aksel 1893 births 1979 deaths People from Orenburg People from Orenburgsky Uyezd Soviet people of Finnish descent Soviet people of Italian descent Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet admirals Imperial Russian Navy officers Soviet submarine commanders Soviet scientists Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University alumni Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Soviet prisoners and detainees Soviet rehabilitations Russian military personnel of World War I Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet people of World War II Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery