Alexander Nikolayevich Tomilin

In one of my posts, I wrote that I was fortunate to study under some of the leading figures in Russian computer science at the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics at Moscow State University. Unfortunately, cameras were not as commonplace then as they are today, so I do not have many photographs from my student days. But life is wiser than it seems, and I later crossed paths with some of my professors again in my professional career.

One of them was Alexander Nikolayevich Tomilin. His work included:

• Developing simulation methods for computer architectures, including the BESM-6 computer and the AS-6 computing system;
• Developing the principles behind, designing, and deploying operating systems for high-performance computers: the BESM-6 (used at the country’s largest computing centres), the AS-6 computing system (used in real-time control systems at spacecraft mission control centres), and the Elektronika SS BIS supercomputer.

For successfully accomplishing major state scientific and technical objectives related to the development and deployment of the BESM-6, the country’s finest computer, he was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1969.

Sadly, Alexander Nikolayevich passed away on 3 December 2021.

In the photos:

• Alexander Nikolayevich and me at the All-Russian Scientific Conference “Scientific Service on the Internet” in 2015;
• Me presenting Alexander Nikolayevich with a copy of a 1969 newspaper reporting that he had been awarded the USSR State Prize, at the IGeLU-2017 conference that I organised in St Petersburg.