It seems, that the existence of the SETUN in the Soviet Union at least supported and

sometimes even triggered the research in the “Western World” in the field of ter-

nary logic, a subset of multi-valued logic. Though its’ constructor can not claim to be

the first who thought about ternary logic and computing technology,2 the impact of

SETUN’s’ existence should not be underestimated. In a summary on the develop-

ment of multi-valued logic and computing technology given in 1977, Epstein/

Frieder/ Rine put it this way: “However, the SETUN computer awakened interest in

subsystems such as arithmetic units [Haberlin/ Müller 1970, Yoeli/ Halpern 1968,

Vranesic/ Hamacher 1971, Mine et. al. 1971] and numerous electronic modules as

cited in an abridgement of the bibliography for Thelliez’ doctoral thesis [Thelliez

1973].”

– 1 –

SETUN’s reflections

How the SETUN computer was perceived in the “Western”

scientific community

“The work day began with ‘morning exercises’: Each

employee of the laboratory, including the project man-

ager, got five ferrite cores of a diameter of 3 millime-

ter …” (N. P. Brusenzov)1

1. Introduction

In 1958 the Russian engineer Nikolai P. Brusenzov and his small

team constructed the world’s first and still unique ternary com-

puter. The computer that was built at the Research Computing

Laboratories of the Moscow State University (MSU) was named

after a nearby small river, the SETUN’.

Although the iron curtain divided Eastern from Western scientist,

there was a huge interest on both sides to learn about each

other’s progress in technology.

The following research examines, how scientists of the “Western Bloc

the existence of the SETUN computer and how the information was r

Western scientific publications.

Img. 1: N.P.

Brusenzov (2004)

In: Malinovski 1995, [transl. F.H.]

Grosch, H. J. R.: Signed ternary arithmetic. Digital Computer Lab. Memo. M-1496, MIT, Cambridge,

Mass., May 1952

– 2 –

The 1958 SETUN’s’ appearance and the fact that scientist on the Western side of the

iron curtain learned about it in 19593 could be seen in the context of the Soviet’s

launch of the Sputnik Satellite in Oct. 4, 1957.

The Sputnik had a huge impact on the advancement of scientific research in the

United States and other Western countries. Or how the Historian Walter A. McDou-

gall put it: “No event since Pearl Harbor set off such repercussions in public life.”4

The American public was quite surprised that the Russians where the first to launch

a rocket and a satellite to successfully reach the earths’ orbit. Though the Americans

were aware of the importance of a space program and expected to launch their own

satellite soon (Project Vanguard - launch planned for November 1957) the American

public and with them scientists, military and the government were overwhelmed.

“There was a sudden crisis of confidence in American technology, values, politics

and in the military. Science, technology, and engineering were totally reworked and

massively funded in the shadow of Sputnik.”5

With the intention to catch up the technological and military gap,6 the Men on the

Moon Program was announced by John F. Kennedy in May 25, 1961 before the US

Congress with the words: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achiev-

ing the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning

him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impres-

sive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and

none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.“

In the consequence of this announcement, the technological research in the US was

generally boosted.7 The outcomes of the following basic research eventually lead not

just to space travel but also to technologies as the multimedia computer, Internet or

the Global Positioning System.

It is obvious that the SETUN didn’t make such a big public impression and didn’t

have such an impact on science. But in the light of what was said about the Sputniks

impact to science, it can be assumed, that SETUN’s pure existence has triggered or

at least supported the research that went on the Western side of the iron curtain.

Robertson, James in: Carr III, John W. 1959

McDougall, Walter A.: The heavens and the earth – A political history of the space age. (Basic Books,

New York, 1985) John Hopkins Paperback Edition, p142

Dickson, 2003, p 4

tion of Soviet propaganda in connection with a lucky timing of the Soviet space program. (McDougal

1997)

Walter McDougal argues, that a gap never really existed and that it rather was a successful produc-

Paul Dickson describes how the Men on the Moon Program changed the attitute towards science in

the US in the 1960’s. (Dickson, 2003 p 225 – 231 “Upgrading the three Rs”)

– 3 –

2. Information gathering

To understand, how the information on the SETUN was spread in the “West” (USA,

Canada, Great Britain, Israel and Japan), 44 out of 100 scientific documents were

examined for direct references to SETUN and/or its constructors. The research spans

a period of 20 years from 1958 to 1977 and included documents, which were pub-

lished in the US from US-American, Canadian, British, Israeli, Japanese, Argentine

and Indian authors. The 44 examined documents present the main body of still ac-

cessible texts. 66 other documents could not be found or obtained from libraries for

various reasons. The examined articles were found via the Columbia University Li-

brary9 and Compendex Catalogue10 either by cross-references or one of the following

keywords:

three-valued logic

ternary / trinary

base-3

TERNAC

SETUN

Brusenzov

While the indirect references where not counted,11 13 out of 44 documents where

found, that named the SETUN and referred directly to descriptions of the SETUN.

These references refer basically to 3 different instances:

1. Two separate groups of American scientist visited the Soviet computing cen-

ters in 1958/ 1959 and actually saw the SETUN. Their published reports

were widely spread in the US in the following years. (Robertson et. al. 1959,

Ware et. al. 1960)

2. A summary on Soviet computing technology by Rudins 1970, drove its infor-

mation from Robertson 1959 and Ware 1960.

3. Some articles originally published in Soviet or Eastern Block publications in

Russian by Brusenzov or his co-developers were eventually obtained and

translated into English. Some scientists did translations personally; other

translations were reprinted in English in periodicals.

To give the reader an impression on how the SETUN was mirrored in the US aca-

demic publishing in 1958-1978, all direct occurrences including the surrounding

context are cited below. Additionally comments are given, where found to be neces-

sary.

For some documents, the references taken from the original articles, were not traceable in cata-

logues and libraries at all. It can be expected that they exist somewhere but the time limit did not

allow to research all potentially accessible reference databases. For other documents the references

could be cleared, but lack of time, money or administrative problems circumvented the author to ac-

tually get hold of them.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/index.html

Compendex is one of the most comprehensive bibliographic databases of engineering research

available today, containing over eight million references and abstracts taken from over 5,000 engi-

neering journals, conferences and technical reports. http://www.engineeringvillage2.org

That means someone citing a document that contains a reference to a third document which names

the SETUN. From a raw review of the references, it can be assumed, that most of the documents have

at least one indirect reference to a text, where SETUN is named.