Elara S. Novikova
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Red Book proposal

1959 · Machine / system

Kitov's 200-page dual-use national network project sent to Khrushchev

Red Book proposal in the timeline

1948 Marries Valentina Papkova

His proposal is soberly programmatic: 'I know I will devote all my time to science. Consequently I need a wife who takes over the cares of the house. If you agree, Valya, marry me.' The marriage lasts until his death in 1982.

1950 Graduates academy with gold medal

His name is inscribed in gold letters on the academy's honor board. As a student he already held a patent for a 'ray gun' proposal reported up to Stalin, and worked in Korolev's group on the R-1 rocket.

1959 Kitov's Red Book network proposal destroys him

Anatoly Kitov sends Khrushchev a 200-page project for a nationwide network of computing centers shared by military and civilian economy, a decade before ARPANET. The military intercepts the letter, is appalled at civilians in the heart of the armed forces; a secret tribunal expels Kitov from the party and dismisses him permanently.

1964 Forced out as INEUM director

His proposals on price reform enrage Gosplan officials: 'this revolt will cost you dearly,' one reportedly warns. Bruk is effectively pushed out of the directorship. As Malinovsky put it: 'Bruk did not retire; he was retired.' He stays on as scientific consultant.

1965 Programming the missile-warning network

Over 50 M4-2M computers, whose architecture absorbed her proposals, enter service in 1965-69 at radar nodes and the command post of the first-stage missile-attack warning system, running non-stop in real time.

1973 Burtsev's Elbrus wins at ITMVT

After Lebedev steps back, Vsevolod Burtsev's Elbrus concept prevails over Melnikov's BESM-10 proposal. Lebedev himself had argued heatedly against a multiprocessor Elbrus; Glushkov backed both. The supercomputer line is named after the mountain Lebedev climbed at 35.

1985-11 Marine Lonetree falls for a swallow

US Marine guard Clayton Lonetree meets translator 'Violetta Seina' at the Marine Ball in Moscow, a KGB agent who introduces him to her 'Uncle Sasha'. He hands over embassy floor plans and names of US intelligence officers, turns himself in at the end of 1986, and becomes the first Marine convicted of espionage. His memoir ends with a marriage proposal to Sei

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