JINR digital Heart
"Looking back, we remember with deep gratitude the founding fathers and all those who laid the unique traditions of our laboratory," Director of MLIT Sergey Shmatov that developed the first algorithms for mathematical modeling of data processing, the first computing centres, opened the festive evening. “Their irrepressible excitement and dedication to their work developed the very spirit of LCTA – MLIT that is still alive today." He spoke about the development of the Laboratory, starting from the first Ural‑1 lamp machine and the pride of Russian science BESM‑6. I remembered huge halls with punched cards and magnetic tapes. "Today, when data and information have become the main currency, MLIT is a strategic platform for the whole JINR," he emphasized. “Without our heterogeneous distributed infrastructure, without the Govorun supercomputer, the development of grid technologies, cloud computing, it is impossible to imagine data processing from high-level experiments. Today, we are proud to say that MLIT is the digital heart of JINR that beats in unison with all the Laboratories of the Institute, research centres of the Member States and partners in the Russian Federation.
The special pride of our Laboratory is the continuity of generations. 60 years of MLIT is 60 years of dedication to science, labor service. When we look at our Multifunctional Information and Computing Centre, we understand that it became possible only thanks to the foundation that you, dear veterans, laid. You taught computers to understand physics, automated the most complex experiments and their processing, established a unique school of computational physics in Dubna. Our main task is to be worthy of your heritage. Low bow to you for your work, your wisdom, for the bar that you set."
"Indeed, MLIT is the digital heart of our Institute and not only," JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov congratulated the heroes on the beautiful date. “It originated as a tool for experimental nuclear physics. In fairness, among its founders, it is necessary to mention N. N. Bogolyubov. Theorists often became a trigger for the development of the Laboratory. At first, it developed as a tool, but very quickly it became clear that automation, cybernetics, computing is a real science. I want to recall those who headed the Laboratory. These are M. G. Meshcheryakov, N. N. Govorun, R. Pose, I.V. Puzynin, V.V. Ivanov, V.V. Korenkov that together with their teams, made it one of the best institutions in their field in the world. MLIT is one of the youngest and most energetic laboratories. It provides us with a reliable and safe existence because without access to the network, you quickly begin to feel discomfort. MLIT is a full-fledged basic facility of JINR. Thanks to it, we have a connection with the whole world and tens of thousands of people use its capabilities every day. And not one of our basic facilities, not a single laboratory of the Institute thinks itself perfect without MLIT.
And the Laboratory is also a nest for the UC, in which about a thousand students and graduate students annually become involved in our Institute in different forms. MLIT that deals with the most modern science, is also responsible for ensuring that the UC, as an entrance window for students, will be the most modern and attractive."
MLIT Scientific Leader Vladimir Korenkov congratulated everyone on the significant event, "For 60 years, our laboratory has been developing and making its own contribution to the development of computing, software for the whole JINR scientific programme. When founding the laboratory, the idea was expressed that the implementation of scientific research depends on the implementation of data processing systems. It is relevant to this day." He spoke about those who the Laboratory began with - M. G. Meshcheryakov, N. N. Govorun, G. I. Zabiyakin, E. P. Zhidkov, about the first serious computer - BESM 6 and the contribution of LCTA headed by N. N. Govorun. The translator and software they developed for it, the Dubna monitor and operating system were widely used in other computing centres of the USSR. The CDC machines that appeared later played an important role in the development of the JINR computing complex. The processing of film data at that stage was very important, here the teams of V.I. Moroz, Yu. A. Karzhavin and others, as well as groups engaged in automatic machines and semi-automatic machines for processing film data, made a significant contribution. In the development of special devices, graphic terminals, V. I. Prikhodko and colleagues played an important role. When filmless data from experiments began to appear, an important contribution to the processing of such data was made by the group of I.M. Ivanchenko that developed software packages both at JINR and at CERN. In the development of mathematical methods, the investigation of I.V. Puzynin and colleagues is of high importance. At the initiative of D.V. Shirkov, M.G. Meshcheryakov and N.N. Govorun, analytical calculations began to develop in LCTA. The leader of this area was V.P. Gerdt that later took up computer algebra and quantum technologies.
The next important stage in the development of the Laboratory is building a terminal network, all the software which was developed for at LCTA. Here, the team of V.P. Shirikov showed an excellent result. The JNET network appeared, along with the improvement of which network technology developed. In 1987, there was an access to the world Internet and until the early 1990s, computer networks were the main incentive for development. By 2022, MLIT reached the level of 100 Gbps, today, it has four external channels with such bandwidth and daily traffic exceeds 200 TB.
In the 1990s, the film processing department stopped functioning, large machines were decommissioned. Distributed computing has developed in the Laboratory, clusters of personal machines and the first supercomputers have appeared. By 2000, there was a new laboratory concept and LCTA was renamed the Laboratory of Information Technologies. "The 21st century began with distributed computing and grid technology," V.V. Korenkov continued. “We have done a lot to develop a Russian grid segment together with our colleagues from other Russian centres. We began to extensively participate in the processing and storage of data with LHC. Together with the Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute" in 2014, the Tier-1 Centre was established to process and store data from the CMS experiment at CERN. This experience is invaluable for organizing the infrastructure of large projects such as NICA. The next stage was cloud computing that is widely used in neutrino physics. In 2018, our star appeared - the Govorun supercomputer that is very interesting and original. A large number of users from different countries use its power to meet the most complex problems. Since 2021, our laboratory has been named after M. G. Meshcheryakov, we have been striving for this for a very long time."
Further, V.V. Korenkov spoke about the current stage of development of the Laboratory, the use of the Multifunctional Information and Computing Complex in various experiments. Today, MLIT resources are united with the resources of other countries into a single environment. Developing a single infrastructure focused on meeting complex problems is an important goal. No less important for MLIT is the development of mathematical methods, methods of artificial intelligence, data processing, quantum computing - in these areas the Laboratory has made very good groundwork. He highlighted the patriarch of the Laboratory G. A. Ososkov that makes a very great contribution to the development of these methods. MLIT's area of activity is the development of the JINR digital ecosystem.
The Laboratory holds many conferences, schools. MLIT thinks about the future, annually organizing IT schools for students of Russian universities. Dubna University also helps in the educational programme: over 60 Laboratory employees are University graduates. Two years ago, in the Dubna Branch of Moscow State University, along with physics departments, a master's programme in applied mathematics and computer science appeared, preparing specialists, primarily, for MLIT.
Head of the city Maxim Tikhomirov congratulated those gathered on the anniversary. Professor of the Department of Mathematics of the St. Petersburg University of Industrial Technologies and Design G.P. Meshcheryakova said, "I had the honor to observe the development of the Laboratory from its establishment to the moment when the Govorun supercomputer appeared in MLIT. This Meshcheryakov-Govorun tandem, for all the orthogonality of the properties of their characters, turned out to be unusually effective. They complemented each other so much that they were able to lay the wonderful foundation which you increase and develop on. I am very grateful to you for everything that you have done and are doing. According to the maritime Petersburg tradition, I would like to wish you a fair wind in all your sails and seven feet under the keel always!" N. N. Govorun Jr. expressed gratitude for everything the Laboratory does to preserve the memory of Nikolay Nikolaevich. He highlighted that N. N. Govorun could calmly engage in the automation of experimental physics with the support of M. G. Meshcheryakov. "It is a tremendous pleasure to observe what success the Laboratory has achieved both in the development and implementation of grid technologies in the world infrastructure and in the processing of experimental data. I would like to wish to continue to move at such a pace, in particular, in the awareness and adaptation of artificial intelligence tools."
"We should express deep gratitude to MLIT employees for what they are engaged in," VBLHEP Acting Director A. V. Butenko congratulated the heroes of the day. “It is difficult to overestimate your role in our physical experiments, in the projects that we implement. We have always been close to LCTA and MLIT but with the advent of the NICA project, these relations have never intensified. Today, we can't imagine our work without you!" Assistant to the President of the Kurchatov Institute Research Centre V. E. Velikhov recalled large joint projects with MLIT and as a gift to the heroes of the day, he spoke about the project of the Moscow-Novosibirsk communication channel and further to Khabarovsk, which Baikalsk can also be connected to. Director of the Institute of System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.I. Avetisyan emphasized that from the very beginning, JINR and MLIT were founded as an open ecosystem, highlighted the high professionalism of the Laboratory staff. "Young people should understand that Govorun supercomputer would not have been possible without these 60 years of history," he emphasized.
Director General of the RSK Group of Companies A. A. Moskovsky recalled the projects implemented over eight years of cooperation and expressed hope for the development of cooperation. From the LANIT Group of Companies, the heroes of the day were congratulated by A. A. Lykov and robo-dogs Strelka and Pushinka that caused a revival in the hall. Congratulations were voiced from DLNP Director E. A. Yakushev, colleagues from Yerevan University and the A.I. Alikhanyan National Scientific Laboratory (Armenia), N. Saduev (Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kazakhstan) spoke about the prospects for cooperation. BLTP Director D. I. Kazakov emphasized, "Your laboratory has changed faster than all other laboratories of the Institute and forced us to change. Punched cards were remembered here and I remember listings which it was very convenient to write formulae on. And then analytical calculations began to develop in your laboratory and it turned out that it was no longer necessary to write formulae on listings. Today, there are big changes concerning the advent of artificial intelligence and we enter them with your help and with you, we must avoid the dangers relating to it."
Director of LRB A.N. Bugay congratulated the heroes of the day, wishing them to continue to develop at the same pace. Colleagues and good friends of MLIT from the Institute of Nuclear Problems of the Belarusian State University wished the Laboratory to reach the level of interplanetary information relations. Dean of the Faculty of CMC Moscow State University I. A. Sokolov on his own behalf and on behalf of the Department of Nanotechnology and Information Technologies of the Russian Academy of Sciences conveyed a deep bow to the veterans and the wish of the Laboratory for a common desire to know the world. Deputy Director of the Moscow State University Branch in Dubna A. G. Olshevsky highlighted that the Laboratory has done a lot over 60 years but a lot is still ahead and its future is related to young people. A.P. Kryukov (SINP MSU) named the people that have played an important role in his fate - these are D.V. Shirkov, V.P. Gerdt, V.V. Korenkov. He defended his thesis at JINR, the Council was then headed by M. G. Meshcheryakov. This was the first thesis in the USSR entirely dedicated to computer algebra. In the 2000s, his collaboration with MLIT continued in the field of grid technologies. Director of the UC D.V. Kamanin recalled his first acquaintance with LCTA during school career guidance and wished that the window for entering the Institute - UC would expand and bring more and more young people to MLIT and JINR. Rector of Dubna University conveyed congratulations and E. N. Cheremisina recalled that if it were not for the adventurism and enthusiasm of her colleagues from JINR, there would not be the university that functions today and the Institute of System Analysis and Management that trains professional personnel.
A number of MLIT employees were awarded a Certificate of Honor from Head of the city, an Honorary Diploma from the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, a Certificate of Honor from the A. I. Alikhanyan National Scientific Laboratory, a Jubilee Medal "70 years of JINR" and other awards of the Joint Institute. The medals "60 years of MLIT" were awarded to employees of the Laboratory and other divisions of the Institute.
For the anniversary, the Laboratory prepared a book-album "Laboratory of Information Technologies named after M. G. Meshcheryakov. For the 60th anniversary" in which its story is captured in archival photographs. The evening that was in a warm, family atmosphere, ended with a sparkling performance by the Moscow State Academic Dance Theater "Gzhel".
Olga TARANTINA, photo by Elena PUZYNINA