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Krawtchouk's Mind (MLP)

By jjayson
Mon Apr 28th, 2003 at 05:35:01 AM EST

Central Europe Review is running an article on a gulag-condemned Soviet scientist whose contribution to the first computer is virtually unknown because of the Cold War mentality that infected much of society on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

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The story tells of how in 1937, American digital computer pioneer John Atanasoff came across a Myhailo Krawtchouk paper on a new method for finding approximate solutions to differential equations. Atanasoff tried sending a letter to him, but received no response. Krawtchouk had been attainted for giving a favorable review of the work of "enemies of the people" and shipped to Siberia for 20 years of gold mining, where he died four years later. Krawtchouk's biography gives a more detailed account of how Krawtchouk was labeled a "Polish spy" and "Ukrainian nationalist," stripped of his Academy of Sciences membership, and forced to sign a confession -- that he later retracted -- under torture and threats upon his family.

The piece gives an uneasy picture of how much the arts and sciences suffered under Stalin in the name of Russification, such as Krawtchouk's name being expurgated from books and journals, his publications hidden in KGB archives, and his reasearch discontinued.

"Mykhailo Krawtchouk never learned about the role that his works played in the invention of the electronic computer. If he had lived, he might not even have thought of it as his major contribution. Writing from the gulag to his wife, Krawtchouk said that he had finally managed to prove a theorem on which he had been working for 20 years. His work was confiscated, and its fate is unknown. It was perhaps destroyed, or it may have provided the basis for another major modern breakthrough. Still, at least the computer you are sitting at is a distant testimony to the skills and unfulfilled potential of a generation destroyed by Stalin."

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Related Links

Central Europe Review
digital computer pioneer John Atanasoff
Krawtchouk's biography
More on Politics
Also by jjayson

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Krawtchouk's Mind | 94 comments (56 topical, 38 editorial, 0 hidden)

It�s sad (none / 0) (#89)
by Niha on Tue Apr 29th, 2003 at 02:15:18 PM EST

How political ideas can damage people and science at the same time...

hey jjayson you got ripped off (4.16 / 6) (#69)
by circletimessquare on Mon Apr 28th, 2003 at 09:59:10 AM EST

slashdot just ran your story... it looks like a word-for-word rip off/ lifting/ plagiarization

unless you are the "a reader" who submitted it there

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/28/118243&mode=nested

just trying to keep it honest

C:\>tracert life.liberty.pursuit-of-happiness

I, personally, didn't submit it. by jjayson, 04/29/2003 01:31:05 AM EST (none / 0)
So, um, what the heck? by Iesu II, 04/29/2003 12:47:59 AM EST (none / 0)
Slashdot moderators didn't like my posting by HidingMyName, 04/28/2003 03:10:15 PM EST (3.00 / 2)

Just moderated... by CtrlBR, 04/28/2003 06:05:20 PM EST (3.00 / 2)
Why not send an email? by Belligerent Dove, 04/28/2003 05:43:26 PM EST (3.66 / 3)

I elected not to by HidingMyName, 04/29/2003 08:53:54 PM EST (5.00 / 1)

Interesting indeed by evanbd, 04/28/2003 04:12:02 PM EST (3.66 / 3)
i wish i had a +5 at slashdot (nt) by circletimessquare, 04/28/2003 03:39:31 PM EST (3.00 / 2)

NOW also on /. (3.33 / 3) (#68)
by SDaskaleas on Mon Apr 28th, 2003 at 09:59:06 AM EST
http://daskaleas.com

See here.

I know the slashdot editors don't read their own site but you'd think they'd read k5. Oh well...

Richard Feynman, The Computer (4.20 / 5) (#62)
by MichaelCrawford on Mon Apr 28th, 2003 at 02:29:12 AM EST
(crawford@goingware.com) http://www.goingware.com/

Many people know that Richard Feynman's role in the Manhattan project is that he headed up the computing division of the a-bomb project. What a lot of people don't realize is that a "computer" back then wasn't the electronic device we know today, it wasn't even built with vacuum tubes, it was some guy with a book of logarithm tables and an adding machine.

They would work in big teams for periods of weeks or months to do numerical simulations of the bomb reactions, simulations that would take less than a minute on the Wal-Mart PCs of today.

My understanding is that one reason Feynman got to head up the computing division is that he was able to do numerical solutions to differential equations - in his head.

Thank you for your attention.

--
It would be very nice of you to refer me to someone who could use my software consulting services.

Gal, more likely by epepke, 05/01/2003 05:37:33 PM EST (none / 0)
Link? Reference? by mumble, 04/28/2003 10:34:03 AM EST (none / 0)

No but I'll try to find one by MichaelCrawford, 04/28/2003 03:27:47 PM EST (1.00 / 1)

Hero by mumble, 04/30/2003 01:03:53 AM EST (none / 0)

I remember that about his IQ by morkeleb, 05/01/2003 01:43:09 AM EST (none / 0)

Konrad Zuse (5.00 / 4) (#53)
by flo on Mon Apr 28th, 2003 at 12:22:25 AM EST
(breuer(at)mathNO.ctsSPAM.nthu.edu.tw)

Many people lay claim to the invention of the computer, and you can always pick your favorite contestant by defining carefully what you mean by "computer" (digital? electronic? progammable? same memory used for data and programs? etc).

The list of contestants goes as far back as Pascal and Leibnitz, through Babbage, to, amongst others, Turing, von Neumann, Atanasoff and Zuse. Of course, Zuse has the great disadvantage of having worked on the wrong side of WW2, which pretty much disqualifies him in the English-speaking world. Still, he was an interesting guy, and deserves to be better known.
---------
"Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"

You're forgetting Tommy Flowers by HereticMessiah, 04/28/2003 08:24:45 AM EST (none / 0)

typical capitalists (2.77 / 9) (#51)
by turmeric on Sun Apr 27th, 2003 at 11:06:48 PM EST
(turmeric5@yahoo.com) http://turmeric.freeshell.org

look, a few people got killed... but think of how many WOULD have been killed had the people not risen and defeated the czar? how many WOULD have been killed had there never been a people's revolution? stalin industrialized and modernized russia. how many would die of no vaccinations etc, without him? sure, you can all whine and be all the anti-soviet you want to be, but when you are making decisions at the top level things are not so childishly simple. for the greater good sometimes a few have to be sacrificed, the US leaders understand this , the soviet leaders understand this, why is it you stupid whiny infantilists dont understand it?
--
"I'm not realy worried about other peoples abilitie to use it." -- kraant, open source guru

Silly Ass by MalTheElder, 05/03/2003 02:18:36 AM EST (none / 0)
Finally by ReaganLover63, 04/28/2003 02:41:36 PM EST (3.75 / 4)
Commie disinformation. by tkatchev, 04/28/2003 10:50:05 AM EST (5.00 / 2)
So we're not allowed to criticize him? by ocelotbob, 04/28/2003 04:24:47 AM EST (4.66 / 3)

but the czar gassed his own people! by turmeric, 04/28/2003 12:45:09 PM EST (4.33 / 3)

A few people? by ocelotbob, 04/28/2003 08:10:12 PM EST (none / 0)

oh shut up by turmeric, 04/28/2003 11:25:49 PM EST (2.00 / 2)

Lenin was worse than Stalin. by tkatchev, 04/28/2003 10:53:14 AM EST (4.33 / 3)

True by ocelotbob, 04/28/2003 08:03:18 PM EST (none / 0)

Tsar by cameldrv, 04/28/2003 12:24:31 AM EST (none / 0)
off-topic by djotto, 04/27/2003 11:39:12 PM EST (3.00 / 1)

my guess on the Atanasoff connection (5.00 / 1) (#50)
by MonkeyMan on Sun Apr 27th, 2003 at 10:15:09 PM EST

In the Central Europe Review article, Ivan Katchanovski writes:

Here, though, was a work that had not been translated but that offered new methods of finding approximate solutions to differential equations. It was a shortcut that sliced through long equations, and for Atanasoff it sparked the notion that it might serve as the rationale for electronic computing.

I am not sure what he means by rationale above. On one hand it may have something to do with computer circuits or architecture. On the other hand Krawtchouk may have come up with a simple repetitive calculation approach to finding approximate solutions to DEs, and Atanasoff realized that this solution was amenable to automation.

What people these days do not appreciate is how boring but necessary long manual calculations were before computers were invented. Years ago I hung out with Maurice Karnaugh (the inventor of the Karnaugh Map. He told me he got his PhD (in physics I think) just for performing a calculation that his advisor wanted. This calculation however took him several years on one of those old motorized mechanical calculators.

So, in the pre-computer days people were well aware of how much brain power was wasted by human computers. My guess is that Krawtchouk had an automation friendly solution to a common problem.

Never the less, I would still like to see the story on exactly what excited and inspired Atanasoff.

Whoopsie-doodle. (2.00 / 4) (#40)
by Hide The Hamster on Sun Apr 27th, 2003 at 08:31:55 PM EST
(fa�ade_male.prostitute@yourhouse.org) http://www.wired.com/news/images/0,2334,56409-5520,00.html

Time to put on the ol' tinfoil hat.

"Call me! I have to know that you still want to spend time with me!" "Shut the fuck up, bitch. I reply 'how high' only at my own order of jump." - sirs, I'm free.

And of course... (1.77 / 9) (#17)
by jvcoleman on Sun Apr 27th, 2003 at 01:35:51 PM EST
(greenflash23@hotmail.com) http://www.geocities.com/peachikeane/greenflash.html

the anti-war protestors = A.N.S.W.E.R. = Stalin.

-1

Dude by A Spineless Liberal Commie, 04/27/2003 02:35:54 PM EST (2.60 / 10)

Best. Advice. Ever. <n/t> by carbon, 04/28/2003 01:57:40 AM EST (3.00 / 1)

This reminds me of a recent comment: (5.00 / 3) (#14)
by ti dave on Sun Apr 27th, 2003 at 12:25:00 PM EST
http://www.memepool.com/

Seems like a thiny-veiled way to say that only capitalism is capable of producing innovation and technological development. I call bullshit.

You've given a nice illustration of what happened to innovators under State Socialism.

I'd like to put a bullet in your head, Ti_Dave. ~DominantParadigm

not really by cronian, 04/27/2003 07:35:17 PM EST (2.50 / 2)
yup... by Run4YourLives, 04/27/2003 02:38:56 PM EST (none / 0)

For more info on the Stalin period and the Gulag, (5.00 / 3) (#4)
by Kasreyn on Sun Apr 27th, 2003 at 07:47:59 AM EST
(Check my Bio for contact info) http://www.bloomington.in.us/~kasreyn

I highly recommend my current (re)reading project, "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (might be Anglicized to Alexander in your library). It's an exhaustive (and exhaustING) look at the judicial and penal system in Russia and the U.S.S.R. from 1918 to 1956, and it clearly shows that more than one generation of Russians were catapulted into the abyss due to the paranoia and evil of Stalin and those like him.

It's an eye-opening read, and if you're like me, will leave you literally *quaking* with rage at points at the sheer inhumanity people are capable of. Solzhenitsyn's view of Stalinist Russia is a very cynical, bitter, and blackly humorous one, and you may find it difficult to take a look at ANY government again without noticing what you fervently pray aren't resemblances to the horror of this book.

Anyway, sorry to get somewhat off-topic. Just thought it might interest someone.

-Kasreyn

"Come fill the cup and in the fire of spring
Your winter garment of repentence fling.
The bird of time has but a little way
To flutter - and the bird is on the wing."

-Omar Khayyam.

Nitpick. by tkatchev, 04/27/2003 10:19:44 AM EST (none / 0)

What was the formal name by nobbystyles, 04/27/2003 11:00:32 AM EST (none / 0)

Russian Empire. by tkatchev, 04/27/2003 12:03:07 PM EST (5.00 / 1)

OK by nobbystyles, 04/27/2003 01:49:38 PM EST (none / 0)

Re: by tkatchev, 04/27/2003 01:56:58 PM EST (none / 0)

If you like that by Relayer, 04/27/2003 09:49:39 AM EST (none / 0)

He costars in Gulag Archipelago, by Kasreyn, 04/27/2003 01:28:47 PM EST (none / 0)

I would suggest taking frequent breaks in between by morkeleb, 04/27/2003 08:05:50 AM EST (5.00 / 1)

Agreed. by Kasreyn, 04/27/2003 08:17:05 AM EST (5.00 / 1)

You can't do that by tftp, 04/27/2003 07:36:56 PM EST (5.00 / 1)

Ah, but I can still kill myself, like this guy did by Kasreyn, 04/28/2003 01:11:37 AM EST (5.00 / 1)

You can not even kill yourself by tftp, 04/28/2003 02:34:32 AM EST (5.00 / 1)

I think Solzhenitsyn was being metaphorical by Kasreyn, 04/28/2003 03:07:27 AM EST (none / 0)

That's not it by tftp, 04/28/2003 10:21:11 AM EST (5.00 / 3)

Stalingrad. by Alarmist, 04/28/2003 03:03:47 PM EST (none / 0)

The misconception of anarchy.. by Relayer, 04/27/2003 09:55:25 AM EST (none / 0)

Krawtchouk's Mind | 94 comments (56 topical, 38 editorial, 0 hidden)

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