Slava Gerovitch | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (original) (raw)

Papers by Slava Gerovitch

Research paper thumbnail of The Kitchen and the Dacha: Productive Spaces of Soviet Mathematics

Studia Historiae Scientiarum, 2024

In the late 1960s-70s, due to the Soviet regime’s crackdown on dissident activities and rising an... more In the late 1960s-70s, due to the Soviet regime’s crackdown on dissident activities and rising anti-Semitic policies, many mathematicians from “undesirable” groups faced discrimination and serious administrative restrictions on work and study at top-ranking official institutions. To overcome such barriers, the mathematical community built extensive social networks around informal or semi-formal study groups and seminars, which formed a parallel social infrastructure for learning and research. As a result, mathematical activity began shifting from public educational and research institutions into private or semi-private settings – family apartments, summer dachas, and countryside walks. For many Soviet mathematicians, instead of being a refuge from work, their home apartments and dachas became their primary working spaces – places where they did their research, met with students, and exchanged ideas with colleagues. At the intersection of work and private life, a tightly knit mathematical community emerged, whose commitment to scholarship went beyond formal duty or required curriculum, a community practicing mathematics as a “way of life.” The parallel social infrastructure functioned in tense interdependency with formal institutions and borrowed some characteristics of the official system it opposed.

Research paper thumbnail of Кухня и дача: продуктивные пространства советской математики

Неприкосновенный запас, 2024

This article is devoted to the functioning of one of the most flourishing sciences of the Soviet ... more This article is devoted to the functioning of one of the most flourishing sciences of the Soviet era, mathematics, in the period between the 1960s and the early 1980s. Gerovitch shows how formal academic spaces (research institutes, higher education institutions, the academy of sciences) combined with informal ones characteristic of the Soviet intelligentsia of that era (the kitchen, the dacha).

Research paper thumbnail of Cybernetics Across Cultures: The Localization of the Universal

Cybernetics for the 21st Century, vol. 1: Epistemological Reconstruction, edited by Yuk Hui, 2024

American and Soviet AI specialists were seeking out general principles: universal, timeless mecha... more American and Soviet AI specialists were seeking out general principles: universal, timeless mechanisms of thinking and behaviour. Their generalizations, however, were based on culturally conditioned cases. The examples that American and Soviet scientists had at their disposal, were, in fact, culturally specific patterns of social organization and decision-making. When trying to grasp universality, AI models manifested just the opposite: the specificity of cultural patterns.

Research paper thumbnail of «Математический рай»: параллельная социальная инфраструктура послевоенной советской математики

Логос, 2020

В статье анализируется реакция советского математического сообщества на те географические барьеры... more В статье анализируется реакция советского математического сообщества на те географические барьеры, физические препятствия, политическое и административное давление и концептуальные ограничения, с которыми столкнулась советская математика с 1950-х по 1980-е годы. Многие талантливые математики попадали в категорию этнически или политически нежелательных и сталкивались с дискриминацией при поступлении в вуз, приеме на работу, организации поездок на зарубежные конференции и т. д. В ответ математическое сообщество сумело создать параллельную социальную инфраструктуру,
обеспечивавшую приток талантов, поддержку и мотивацию для исследователей, исключенных из официальных структур. Эта инфраструктура включала сеть бесплатных кружков для школьников, заочную математическую школу, олимпиады и специализированные матшколы, бесплатные вечерние курсы для тех, кого дискриминировали при приеме в ведущие университеты, математические отделы в прикладных институтах и сеть открытых исследовательских семинаров.
Возникло сообщество, для которого математика стала образом жизни, где работа и досуг сливались воедино, а занятия наукой перенеслись из огражденных запретами
официальных учреждений в семейные пространства квартиры или дачи. В неформальном сообществе советских математиков действовала своеобразная «моральная экономия»,
которая опиралась на сети дружеских связей и практику взаимных бесплатных одолжений. Всевозможные внешние ограничения способствовали сближению, тесной взаимопомощи и дружескому общению в среде математиков. Этос «параллельного мира»
советской математики, отсеченного от элитных привилегий, культивировал благородный отказ от карьеры, материального вознаграждения и официального признания ради высших идеалов математической истины. Такой образ жизни, противостоящий отчуждающей бюрократической атмосфере официальных институтов, его участники зачастую воспринимали как «математический рай».

Research paper thumbnail of Die sowjetische Kybürokratie

Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte, 2012

Der Kalte Krieg führte nicht nur zum Wettrüsten und zum Wettlauf ins Weltall, es gab auch einen w... more Der Kalte Krieg führte nicht nur zum Wettrüsten und zum Wettlauf ins Weltall, es gab auch einen weniger bekannten, doch nicht weniger bedeutsamen Wettstreit zwischen den beiden Welten -ein Wettrennen um die Infrastruktur der Informationstechnologie. Das war eine weniger spektakuläre, vielleicht aber die fundamentalste Form der Systemkonkurrenz. Denn davon hing die Fähigkeit der Regierungen ab, Informationen zu sammeln und zu analysieren, und damit letztlich ihre Fähigkeit, für alle anderen Ebenen des Konfl ikts Ressourcen zu mobilisieren. Schon sehr früh erkannten sowjetische Wissenschaftler die entscheidende Bedeutung der Datenverarbeitung, um organisatorische Herausforderungen zu bewältigen. Unter dem Banner der Kybernetik bildete sich eine Bewegung von Reformern, die ihre Regierung drängten, ein ehrgeiziges Programm von nationaler Reichweite in Angriff zu nehmen, um Datensammlung und Entscheidungsfi ndung zu computerisieren. Von den sowjetischen Diskussionen alarmierte amerikanische Beobachter appellierten an die amerikanische Führung, unverzüglich Maßnahmen einzuleiten, um mit der Sowjetunion im Informations-Wettrüsten mitzuhalten. Nachdem er von der CIA unterrichtet worden war, schrieb Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

Research paper thumbnail of Memories of Space and Spaces of Memory

Soviet Space Culture, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Automation

Automation is the conversion of a work process, a procedure, or equipment to automatic rather tha... more Automation is the conversion of a work process, a procedure, or equipment to automatic rather than human operation or control. Automation does not simply transfer human functions to machines, but involves a deep reorganization of the work process, during which both the human and the machine functions are redefined. Early automation relied on mechanical and electromechanical control devices; during the last 40 years, however, the computer gradually became the leading vehicle of automation. Modern ...

Research paper thumbnail of "We Teach Them to Be Free": Specialized Math Schools and the Cultivation of the Soviet Technical Intelligentsia

Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History , 2019

The Soviet government authorized the creation of specialized physics and math schools for the pur... more The Soviet government authorized the creation of specialized physics and math schools for the purpose of educating a cohort of intellectuals who would harness the power of math and science in the service of communism. The math schools, however, were plagued by the tension between the goal of selecting and nurturing the top talent and the demand to discipline that talent in order to make it suitable for subsequent service to the state. Resulting from a combination of government programs and private and group initiatives “from below” and intertwined with science fiction of the Strugatsky brothers, the history of specialized schools reflects a complex interplay of diverse agencies and interests, which subtly undermined the state goal of raising loyal Soviet intelligentsia.

Research paper thumbnail of BOOK REVIEWS-Vo glave pervenstvuiushchego uchenogo sosloviia Rossii: Ocherki zhizni i deiatel'nosti prezidentov Imperatorskoi Sankt-Peterburgskoi Akademii nauk, 1725-1917

ISIS-Intl Review Devoted to the History of the Science and its Cult Influence, 2003

BOOK REVIEWS-Vo glave pervenstvuiushchego uchenogo sosloviia Rossii: Ocherki zhizni i deiatel&#x2... more BOOK REVIEWS-Vo glave pervenstvuiushchego uchenogo sosloviia Rossii: Ocherki zhizni i deiatel'nosti prezidentov Imperatorskoi Sankt-Peterburgskoi Akademii nauk, 1725-1917. Eduard I Kolchinsky, Slava Gerovitch ISIS-Intl Review Devoted to the History of the Science and its Cult Influence 94:11, 125-125, Philadelphia [etc]: Publication and Editorial Office, Dept. of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania [etc.], 2003.

Research paper thumbnail of Artificial Intelligence with a National Face: American and Soviet Cultural Metaphors for Thought

The Search for a Theory of Cognition: Early Mechanisms and New Ideas, 2011

In their proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation for the pioneering conference at Dartmouth Colleg... more In their proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation for the pioneering conference at Dartmouth College that in 1956 founded Artificial Intelligence (AI), John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon, wrote that “every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it”(Norman, 2005, p. 710). Decades later, the aspirations of AI remained the same—to grasp the universal principles of thought in order to implement them in a ...

Research paper thumbnail of Computer Designer Viktor Przhiyalkovskiy

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Test Cosmonaut Mikhail Burdayev

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Control Engineer Georgiy Priss

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Construction Engineer Sergey Safro

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Stress Psychiatrist Ada Ordyanskaya

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Guidance Engineer Sergei Khrushchev

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Display Designer Yuriy Tyapchenko

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Scientist Cosmonaut Ordinard Kolomiytsev

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Radio Engineer Felix Meschansky

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of “Cosmonaut 13”: Vladimir Shatalov

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of The Kitchen and the Dacha: Productive Spaces of Soviet Mathematics

Studia Historiae Scientiarum, 2024

In the late 1960s-70s, due to the Soviet regime’s crackdown on dissident activities and rising an... more In the late 1960s-70s, due to the Soviet regime’s crackdown on dissident activities and rising anti-Semitic policies, many mathematicians from “undesirable” groups faced discrimination and serious administrative restrictions on work and study at top-ranking official institutions. To overcome such barriers, the mathematical community built extensive social networks around informal or semi-formal study groups and seminars, which formed a parallel social infrastructure for learning and research. As a result, mathematical activity began shifting from public educational and research institutions into private or semi-private settings – family apartments, summer dachas, and countryside walks. For many Soviet mathematicians, instead of being a refuge from work, their home apartments and dachas became their primary working spaces – places where they did their research, met with students, and exchanged ideas with colleagues. At the intersection of work and private life, a tightly knit mathematical community emerged, whose commitment to scholarship went beyond formal duty or required curriculum, a community practicing mathematics as a “way of life.” The parallel social infrastructure functioned in tense interdependency with formal institutions and borrowed some characteristics of the official system it opposed.

Research paper thumbnail of Кухня и дача: продуктивные пространства советской математики

Неприкосновенный запас, 2024

This article is devoted to the functioning of one of the most flourishing sciences of the Soviet ... more This article is devoted to the functioning of one of the most flourishing sciences of the Soviet era, mathematics, in the period between the 1960s and the early 1980s. Gerovitch shows how formal academic spaces (research institutes, higher education institutions, the academy of sciences) combined with informal ones characteristic of the Soviet intelligentsia of that era (the kitchen, the dacha).

Research paper thumbnail of Cybernetics Across Cultures: The Localization of the Universal

Cybernetics for the 21st Century, vol. 1: Epistemological Reconstruction, edited by Yuk Hui, 2024

American and Soviet AI specialists were seeking out general principles: universal, timeless mecha... more American and Soviet AI specialists were seeking out general principles: universal, timeless mechanisms of thinking and behaviour. Their generalizations, however, were based on culturally conditioned cases. The examples that American and Soviet scientists had at their disposal, were, in fact, culturally specific patterns of social organization and decision-making. When trying to grasp universality, AI models manifested just the opposite: the specificity of cultural patterns.

Research paper thumbnail of «Математический рай»: параллельная социальная инфраструктура послевоенной советской математики

Логос, 2020

В статье анализируется реакция советского математического сообщества на те географические барьеры... more В статье анализируется реакция советского математического сообщества на те географические барьеры, физические препятствия, политическое и административное давление и концептуальные ограничения, с которыми столкнулась советская математика с 1950-х по 1980-е годы. Многие талантливые математики попадали в категорию этнически или политически нежелательных и сталкивались с дискриминацией при поступлении в вуз, приеме на работу, организации поездок на зарубежные конференции и т. д. В ответ математическое сообщество сумело создать параллельную социальную инфраструктуру,
обеспечивавшую приток талантов, поддержку и мотивацию для исследователей, исключенных из официальных структур. Эта инфраструктура включала сеть бесплатных кружков для школьников, заочную математическую школу, олимпиады и специализированные матшколы, бесплатные вечерние курсы для тех, кого дискриминировали при приеме в ведущие университеты, математические отделы в прикладных институтах и сеть открытых исследовательских семинаров.
Возникло сообщество, для которого математика стала образом жизни, где работа и досуг сливались воедино, а занятия наукой перенеслись из огражденных запретами
официальных учреждений в семейные пространства квартиры или дачи. В неформальном сообществе советских математиков действовала своеобразная «моральная экономия»,
которая опиралась на сети дружеских связей и практику взаимных бесплатных одолжений. Всевозможные внешние ограничения способствовали сближению, тесной взаимопомощи и дружескому общению в среде математиков. Этос «параллельного мира»
советской математики, отсеченного от элитных привилегий, культивировал благородный отказ от карьеры, материального вознаграждения и официального признания ради высших идеалов математической истины. Такой образ жизни, противостоящий отчуждающей бюрократической атмосфере официальных институтов, его участники зачастую воспринимали как «математический рай».

Research paper thumbnail of Die sowjetische Kybürokratie

Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte, 2012

Der Kalte Krieg führte nicht nur zum Wettrüsten und zum Wettlauf ins Weltall, es gab auch einen w... more Der Kalte Krieg führte nicht nur zum Wettrüsten und zum Wettlauf ins Weltall, es gab auch einen weniger bekannten, doch nicht weniger bedeutsamen Wettstreit zwischen den beiden Welten -ein Wettrennen um die Infrastruktur der Informationstechnologie. Das war eine weniger spektakuläre, vielleicht aber die fundamentalste Form der Systemkonkurrenz. Denn davon hing die Fähigkeit der Regierungen ab, Informationen zu sammeln und zu analysieren, und damit letztlich ihre Fähigkeit, für alle anderen Ebenen des Konfl ikts Ressourcen zu mobilisieren. Schon sehr früh erkannten sowjetische Wissenschaftler die entscheidende Bedeutung der Datenverarbeitung, um organisatorische Herausforderungen zu bewältigen. Unter dem Banner der Kybernetik bildete sich eine Bewegung von Reformern, die ihre Regierung drängten, ein ehrgeiziges Programm von nationaler Reichweite in Angriff zu nehmen, um Datensammlung und Entscheidungsfi ndung zu computerisieren. Von den sowjetischen Diskussionen alarmierte amerikanische Beobachter appellierten an die amerikanische Führung, unverzüglich Maßnahmen einzuleiten, um mit der Sowjetunion im Informations-Wettrüsten mitzuhalten. Nachdem er von der CIA unterrichtet worden war, schrieb Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

Research paper thumbnail of Memories of Space and Spaces of Memory

Soviet Space Culture, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of Automation

Automation is the conversion of a work process, a procedure, or equipment to automatic rather tha... more Automation is the conversion of a work process, a procedure, or equipment to automatic rather than human operation or control. Automation does not simply transfer human functions to machines, but involves a deep reorganization of the work process, during which both the human and the machine functions are redefined. Early automation relied on mechanical and electromechanical control devices; during the last 40 years, however, the computer gradually became the leading vehicle of automation. Modern ...

Research paper thumbnail of "We Teach Them to Be Free": Specialized Math Schools and the Cultivation of the Soviet Technical Intelligentsia

Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History , 2019

The Soviet government authorized the creation of specialized physics and math schools for the pur... more The Soviet government authorized the creation of specialized physics and math schools for the purpose of educating a cohort of intellectuals who would harness the power of math and science in the service of communism. The math schools, however, were plagued by the tension between the goal of selecting and nurturing the top talent and the demand to discipline that talent in order to make it suitable for subsequent service to the state. Resulting from a combination of government programs and private and group initiatives “from below” and intertwined with science fiction of the Strugatsky brothers, the history of specialized schools reflects a complex interplay of diverse agencies and interests, which subtly undermined the state goal of raising loyal Soviet intelligentsia.

Research paper thumbnail of BOOK REVIEWS-Vo glave pervenstvuiushchego uchenogo sosloviia Rossii: Ocherki zhizni i deiatel'nosti prezidentov Imperatorskoi Sankt-Peterburgskoi Akademii nauk, 1725-1917

ISIS-Intl Review Devoted to the History of the Science and its Cult Influence, 2003

BOOK REVIEWS-Vo glave pervenstvuiushchego uchenogo sosloviia Rossii: Ocherki zhizni i deiatel&#x2... more BOOK REVIEWS-Vo glave pervenstvuiushchego uchenogo sosloviia Rossii: Ocherki zhizni i deiatel'nosti prezidentov Imperatorskoi Sankt-Peterburgskoi Akademii nauk, 1725-1917. Eduard I Kolchinsky, Slava Gerovitch ISIS-Intl Review Devoted to the History of the Science and its Cult Influence 94:11, 125-125, Philadelphia [etc]: Publication and Editorial Office, Dept. of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania [etc.], 2003.

Research paper thumbnail of Artificial Intelligence with a National Face: American and Soviet Cultural Metaphors for Thought

The Search for a Theory of Cognition: Early Mechanisms and New Ideas, 2011

In their proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation for the pioneering conference at Dartmouth Colleg... more In their proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation for the pioneering conference at Dartmouth College that in 1956 founded Artificial Intelligence (AI), John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon, wrote that “every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it”(Norman, 2005, p. 710). Decades later, the aspirations of AI remained the same—to grasp the universal principles of thought in order to implement them in a ...

Research paper thumbnail of Computer Designer Viktor Przhiyalkovskiy

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Test Cosmonaut Mikhail Burdayev

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Control Engineer Georgiy Priss

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Construction Engineer Sergey Safro

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Stress Psychiatrist Ada Ordyanskaya

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Guidance Engineer Sergei Khrushchev

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Display Designer Yuriy Tyapchenko

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Scientist Cosmonaut Ordinard Kolomiytsev

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Radio Engineer Felix Meschansky

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of “Cosmonaut 13”: Vladimir Shatalov

Voices of the Soviet Space Program, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Kooperation trotz Konfrontation. Wissenschaft und Technik im Kalten Krieg

Osteuropa 59/10 (2009), Oct 2009

Zwei Lager, eine Welt. Dies war die historische Konstellation des Kalten Kriegs. West und Ost, ka... more Zwei Lager, eine Welt. Dies war die historische Konstellation des Kalten Kriegs. West und Ost, kapitalistische und kommunistische Ordnung standen einander seit den späten 1940er Jahren in phasenweise erbitterter Systemkonkurrenz gegenüber. Und trieben so die Globalisierung voran. Der Rüstungswettlauf zwischen der USA und der Sowjetunion führte dazu, dass Washington und Moskau sich in den 1960er Jahren die wechselseitige Vernichtung durch einen atomaren Zweitschlag „garantierten“. Gleichzeitig schärfte die Fähigkeit zur umfassenden Vernichtung nach der Kuba-Krise 1962 das Bewusstsein für die globale Verantwortung. Der Wettlauf ins All, bei dem es nicht nur um militärische Vorteile, sondern auch um naturwissenschaftlich-technischen Prestigegewinn und politisches Legitimationskapital ging, veränderte den Blick auf die Welt: Die aus dem All aufgenommenen Bilder der Erde waren ein erster Aufruf zum globalen Denken. Wie nahe Hybris und Demut, politisch-militärische Konfrontation und das Wissen um die Notwendigkeit von Kooperation beieinander lagen, zeigt das sowjetische Plakat mit dem riesenhaften Jurij Gagarin auf der Titelseite dieses Bands. Die Sowjetunion hat den ersten Menschen ins Weltall geschossen, der neue Weltenherrscher ist der Sowjetmensch. Das Original ziert der Jurij Gagarin zugeschriebene Satz: „Als ich die Erde in meinem Raumschiff umkreiste, sah ich, wie schön unser Planet ist. Lasst uns diese Schönheit erhalten und vermehren, statt sie zu zerstören.“ Raum für Kooperation boten vor allem die anderthalb Jahrzehnte der Entspannung, bis Ende der 1970er Jahre. In diese Zeit fällt die Entdeckung des menschengemachten Klimawandels und die in Ost und West vorgetragene Forderung nach einer globalen Umweltpolitik. Die gemeinsame Forschung zur Bewältigung der ökologischen Probleme, die sich auf beiden Seiten des Eisernen Vorhangs angehäuft hatten, steht auch an den Anfängen jener Technik, die zum Symbol der Globalisierung schlechthin geworden ist: des Internets. Die ersten transnationalen Datennetze von 1977 dienten dem Austausch wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse. Doch man mache sich keine falschen Vorstellungen: Im Jahrzehnt der Entspannung ging der Systemwettbewerb weiter. Und er wurde ungeachtet des geteilten Bewusstseins für die Grenzen des Wachstums auf dem Feld des Massenkonsums ausgetragen. Die Individualmotorisierung etwa, die in den meisten osteuropäischen Staaten in diesen Jahren mit Hilfe westlicher Lizenzproduktionen begann, ahmte das kapitalistische Modell nach. Konsumistische und kommunistische Heilsversprechung lagen nicht mehr weit auseinander. Dass sich die Konvergenz der Lebensstile nicht Bahn brechen konnte, lag vor allem an der ökonomischen Schwäche des Ostens. Die ideologischen Widersprüche des Ost-West-Konflikts sind mit dem Zusammenbruch des Kommunismus obsolet geworden. Die Technikeuphorie hat ihren Zenit überschritten, die Naturwissenschaft ist weitgehend aus dem Korsett der politischen Instrumentalisierung befreit worden. Die Folgen des wachstumssüchtigen Gesellschaftsmodells sind jedoch in Ost und West, lokal und global zu spüren. Eine verantwortungsvolle ökologische Weltpolitik steht noch aus.

Research paper thumbnail of Science, Fiction and Power in the USSR

Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History , 2019