Soviet Cybernetics and Computer Sciencesߞ1960

This is the author's report of his visit to the Soviet Union in June and July, 1960. The purpose of the trip was to attend the First Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) as an official American delegate. The author also arranged to meet with certain scientists in psychology, physiology, and the computer sciences, and to visit some Russian research institutions doing work in these areas. Soviet research in cybernetics, neuro-cybernetics, artificial intelligence, mechanical translation, and automatic programming are discussed, and new developments in Soviet computing machines are described. The author describes his discussions with several important Soviet personalities in the computer sciences, which dealt with their particular work and the work of their research institutions. He concludes that Soviet research in the computer sciences lags behind Western developments, but that the gap is neither large nor based on a lack of understanding of fundamental principles. He believes that the Soviets will move ahead rapidly if and when priority, in terms of accessibility to computing machines, is given to their research.