BESM (БЭСМ) is the series of Sovietmainframe computers built in 1950–60s. The name is an acronym for "Bolshaya[1] (or Bystrodeystvuyushchaya)[2] 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 theInstitute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering
The BESM series included six models.
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.[3][4] Only one BESM-1 machine was built. The machine used approximately 5,000vacuum tubes. At the time of completion, it was the fastest computer in Europe. Thefloating-point numbers were represented as 39-bitwords: 32 bits for themantissa, 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 ofread–write memory usingferrite cores, and 1024 words ofread-only memory based on semiconducting diodes. It also had external storage: fourmagnetic tape units of 30,000 words each, and fastmagnetic drum storage with a capacity of 5120 words and an access rate of 800 words/second. The computer was capable of performing 8–10KFlops. The energy consumption was approximately 30kW, not accounting for the cooling systems.
BESM-2 also usedvacuum tubes.
BESM-3M andBESM-4 were built usingtransistors. Their architecture was similar to that of theM-20 andM-220 series.[citation needed] The word size was 45 bits.[citation needed] Thirty BESM-4 machines were built. BESM-4 was used to create the first evercomputer animation.[5][6] The prototypes of both models were made in 1962–63, and the beginning of the series release was in 1964.[7]
EPSILON (amacro language with high-level features including strings and lists, developed byAndrey Ershov atNovosibirsk in 1967) was used to implementALGOL 68 on the M-220.[8]
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TheBESM-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.[9]
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) 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.