Water integrator

The water integrator ( Russian Гидравлический интегратор ) was an early analog computer . It was built in 1936 in the Soviet Union by Vladimir S. Lukyanov.

Using a complex network of pipelines and water tanks, calculations could be carried out. The water level in the tanks corresponded to different numerical values. The calculator could solve non-homogeneous differential equations.

The first examples of Lukyanov's integrators were more experimental and were made of tin and glass tubes. Each integrator could only be used to solve one problem.

In the 1930s it was the only computer in the Soviet Union to solve differential equations in partial derivatives.

In 1941, Lukyanov created a hydraulic integrator with a modular structure, which made it possible to assemble a machine to solve various problems. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional hydraulic integrators were designed.

The water integrator was used to calculate the Karakum Canal in the 1940s and to build the Baikal-Amur Mainline in the 1970s . A working model of this computer can be seen in the Science Museum in London .

1949–1955 an integrator in the form of standardized modules was developed at the scientific research institute for computing machine construction (NIIschetmash).

In 1955, the Ryazan calculating and analyzing equipment factory began serial production of integrators with the factory name "IGL" (Integrator of the Lukyanov Hydraulic System). Integrators became widespread and shipped to Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria and China.

Water calculators were used in the Soviet Union until the 1980s. They have been used in geology, mining, metallurgy, rocket production, and other fields.

Individual evidence

↑ Amos, Martyn: Genesis Machines. The New Science of Biocomputing , ISBN 978-1-84354-225-4 , Atlantic Books, 2006, Ch. 2., Birth of the Machines, ff.
^ History of Russian Computer Technology - NIIschetmash
^ Trogemann, Georg; Nitussov, Alexander Y .; Ernst, Wolfgang: Computing in Russia. The History of Computer Devices and Information Technology revealed , ISBN 3-528-05757-2 , Vieweg, Cologne, Jul. 2001, pp. 84 ff.
↑ Hally, Mike: Electronic Brains: Stories from the Dawn of the Computer Age , ISBN 0-309-09630-8 , Joseph Henry Press, Washington, DC, 2005, Ch. 8, Water on the Brain, pp. 185 ff.

Web links

Archived article from the Russian magazine " Science and Life " about water integrators in the Soviet Union

Archived articles of OV Solovyov from the previous website Polytechnical Museum in Moscow

Mentioned in the lecture by Bernd Ulmann at the Vintage Computing Festival Berlin (VCFB) 2015 about analog computer programming and at the Easterhegg 2017 about analog computing

Hydraulic Analog Computer Technical Reports from 1953. A "collection of technical reports from the USACE (US Army Corps of Engineers) that was written by the Civil and Sanitary Engineering Department at MIT as part of a contract to create a Hydraulic Computer for solving diffusion- type Partial Differential Equations "(English)

[1] Amos, Martyn: Genesis Machines. The New Science of Biocomputing , ISBN 978-1-84354-225-4 , Atlantic Books, 2006, Ch. 2., Birth of the Machines, ff.

[2] History of Russian Computer Technology - NIIschetmash

[3] Trogemann, Georg; Nitussov, Alexander Y .; Ernst, Wolfgang: Computing in Russia. The History of Computer Devices and Information Technology revealed , ISBN 3-528-05757-2 , Vieweg, Cologne, Jul. 2001, pp. 84 ff.

[4] Hally, Mike: Electronic Brains: Stories from the Dawn of the Computer Age , ISBN 0-309-09630-8 , Joseph Henry Press, Washington, DC, 2005, Ch. 8, Water on the Brain, pp. 185 ff.