116 Chapter 4
of college in relatively balmy Rostov, preferred the warmer weather in Kiev
and he agreed.^10 It is also possible that this committed theorist of decentral-
ized power saw a position removed from Moscow as a strategic opportu-
nity to practice and leverage decentralized power. So having achieved an
ambitious goal in mathematics at a young age in 1956, Glushkov turned
his sights to theorizing the emergent field of cybernetics, especially the
relationships between information technology and economic cybernet-
ics. His oeuvre swept across theoretical fields (including abstract algebra,
mathematical logic, automata theory, and algorithms) and applied fields
(including the development of hardware, software, robotics, informatics,
and computers and the administration of Soviet economic cybernetics).
Glushkov is remembered by colleagues for having been always “on”—a
persistent kind of applied grand theorist—except for the occasional hike or
fishing trip down the Dnieper River, which he relished. His children recall
him following a strict daily regime: when he was not riding the day-long
Kiev-Moscow train (which he jokingly called his home), he rose at 8:30
Figure 4.3
Viktor Glushkov, about 1963. From the personal
archives of Viktor Mikhailovich Glushkov.