Strela computer () was the first mainframe

vacuum-tube computer A vacuum-tube computer, now termed a first-generation computer, is a computer that uses vacuum tubes for logic circuitry. Although superseded by second-generation transistorized computers, vacuum-tube computers continued to be built into the 196 ...

manufactured serially in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, beginning in 1953.

Overview

This first-generation computer had 6200

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as ...

s and 60,000

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...

diodes. Strela's speed was 2000 operations per second. Its floating-point arithmetic was based on 43-bit

floating point In computing, floating-point arithmetic (FP) is arithmetic that represents real numbers approximately, using an integer with a fixed precision, called the significand, scaled by an integer exponent of a fixed base. For example, 12.345 can b ...

words, with a signed 35-bit mantissa and a signed 6-bit exponent. Operative

Williams tube The Williams tube, or the Williams–Kilburn tube named after inventors Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn, is an early form of computer memory. It was the first random-access digital storage device, and was used successfully in several early co ...

memory (RAM) had 2048 words. It also used read-only semiconductor diode memory for programs. It used

punched card A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...

s or magnetic tape for data input and magnetic tape, punched cards and/or wide printer for data. The last version of Strela used a 4096-word

magnetic drum Drum memory was a magnetic data storage device invented by Gustav Tauschek in 1932 in Austria. Drums were widely used in the 1950s and into the 1960s as computer memory. For many early computers, drum memory formed the main working memory of ...

, rotating at 6000

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

. While

Yuri Bazilevsky Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Jap ...

was officially Strela's chief designer, Bashir Rameyev, who developed the project prior to Bazilevsky's appointment, could be considered its main inventor. Strela was constructed at the Special Design Bureau 245 (Argon R&D Institute since 1986) in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. Strelas were manufactured by the Moscow Plant of Computing-Analytical Machines (счетно-аналитических машин) during 1953–1957; 7 copies were manufactured. They were installed in the Computing Centre of the

USSR Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics The Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics (russian: Институт прикладной математики им. М.В.Келдыша) is a research institute specializing in computational mathematics. It was established to solve computati ...

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, and in computing centres of some ministries related to defense and economic planning. In 1954, the designers of Strela were awarded the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

of 1st degree (Bashir Rameyev, Yu. Bazilevsky, V. Alexandrov, D. Zhuchkov, I. Lygin, G. Markov, B. Melnikov, G. Prokudayev, N. Trubnikov, A. Tsygankin, Yu. Shcherbakov, L. Larionova). The impetus for the development of Strela was a BBC broadcast heard by Bashir Rameyev about the American development of

ENIAC ENIAC (; Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. There were other computers that had these features, but the ENIAC had all of them in one pac ...

References

External links

Strela Computer
Russian Virtual Computer Museum

Alexander Savvateev, Russian Virtual Computer Museum Mainframe computers Vacuum tube computers Ministry of Radio Industry (USSR) computers 1950s computers Computer-related introductions in 1953 1953 in the Soviet Union Soviet inventions {{Mainframe-compu-stub

Overview

See also

References

Further reading

External links