Victor Petrovich Ivannikov

A man who devoted himself to system programming.

Some time ago, I promised to write about one of my professors, the head of my own Department of System Programming, Victor Petrovich Ivannikov.

For those unfamiliar with the system, let me explain: during the first two years at MSU’s Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, all students follow the same programme. As far as I know, that is no longer entirely the case, but it is still broadly true. After the second year, students split into departments, which are grouped into three streams: mathematics (Stream 1), cybernetics (Stream 2) and programming (Stream 3). In my day, Stream 3 comprised three departments: Algorithmic Languages (AYa), Automation of Computer Systems (ASVK) and System Programming (SP). The Department of System Programming was regarded as the best of the Stream 3 departments, and it was exactly where I wanted to go at the end of my second year. And I made it!

Victor Petrovich headed the Department of System Programming from 1994 to 2016. I will not list all his awards, prizes, medals and so on—they are easy to find online. I will mention just a few of his achievements:

• Editor-in-Chief of the journal Programming and Computer Software;
• Head of the Russian branch of the IEEE Computer Society;
• One of the creators of the D-68 operating system for the BESM-6 computer;
• Developer of operating system facilities for organising parallel processes within tasks and for organising software systems hierarchically in the ND-70 operating system;
• Designer of the processor structure and overall architecture of the AS-6 multicomputer system, and leader and active participant in the creation and deployment of an operating system for a heterogeneous local computer network based on the AS-6.

In addition to heading the Department of System Programming at MSU’s Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, Victor Petrovich also headed the Department of System Programming at MIPT. In 1994, he helped establish the Institute for System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences and led it from its very foundation.

Sadly, Victor Petrovich passed away suddenly in 2016. After his death, the Institute for System Programming was named after Academician Victor Petrovich Ivannikov.

I spoke with Victor Petrovich many times about matters related to my undergraduate and postgraduate studies. I can say that he was a very open, sociable and cheerful man with tremendous experience and a broad outlook, who watched over everyone connected with the Department of System Programming with a kind of paternal affection. I am incredibly glad that I had the honour of learning from people like Victor Petrovich Ivannikov.

P.S. Unfortunately, I do not have any photographs of the department from those days. I found this photograph of a Department of System Programming meeting in 2011.