Lev Nikolayevich has always been an active creator in the strategically important field of science, technology, and education – computer engineering and programming. Under his leadership, system software for high-performance domestic computers and systems was developed. His management of these projects is a remarkable example of Lev Nikolayevich’s determination and his ability to unite the team’s efforts to solve large-scale tasks.

Korolyov Lev Nikolayevich was born on September 6, 1926, in the city of Podolsk, Moscow region, into a family of office workers.

At the time of Lev Nikolayevich’s birth, computing technology was in its infancy, with only a few models of mechanical calculators existing. Korolyov Lev Nikolayevich studied up to the 8th grade at the 266th railway school in Moscow and completed his full secondary education with honors in evacuation in the city of Kurgan in 1943. That same year, he enrolled in the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University. In 1944, Korolyov was drafted into the active army, a radio reconnaissance unit, where he served as a direction finder soldier. He went through the Carpathians, Romania, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia in the battle formations of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts.

In 1947, Korolyov resumed his studies at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University and graduated with honors in 1952. After graduating from the University, he closely engaged with computing technology. L.N. Korolyov was assigned to work in the military unit p/o 43753, and after a year of working there, he got a job at the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology (IPMCT) of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where under the guidance of Academician S.A. Lebedev, he participated in the development of programs for domestic computers created at the Institute.

The initial stage of L.N. Korolyov’s activities was associated with the creation of programs for the first domestic computers – BESM (1953), then BESM-2 and M-20. He conducted pioneering research related to solving informational-logical tasks, coding issues, developing methods for programming automation, symbolic transformations of information. In particular, he proposed an original algorithm for symbolic differentiation, which laid the foundation for the development of computer algebra in our country. His work in 1956 on creating programs for the automatic translation from English to Russian on the domestic computer BESM brought him his first international recognition. In 1960, under the supervision of I.S. Mukhin, Korolyov L.N. defended his Ph.D. thesis on the theory of machine dictionaries, and he was awarded the degree of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

In 1957, Korolyov L.N. was appointed responsible for the development of software for the central computing complex of the anti-missile defense system – System A. These programs facilitated the automatic remote control of all systems of the System A complex.

During this period, with the direct participation and under the leadership of Korolyov L.N., a group of programmers from IPMCT created the first domestic software system for real-time management of radio technical and launch complexes. Later, recalling those years, Lev Nikolayevich himself admitted that it was only youth and the scale of the project that pushed all doubts and fears to the background. It should be emphasized that a characteristic feature of Korolyov as a leader was his complete trust in the team he led and optimism in achieving the set goal.

In 1967, Korolyov L.N. successfully defended his doctoral dissertation related to the work on the software of System A.

Korolyov L.N., as the deputy chief designer, took an active part in the development of the architecture and software of the high-performance computer BESM-6. In 1967, under his leadership at IPMCT, the first operating system for BESM-6, later named “Dispatcher-68,” was created. It was based on the use of the main architectural solutions of BESM-6, proposed with his active participation: a multiprogramming mode for solving tasks, page organization of memory with dynamic allocation of operational memory in the process of calculations by the operating system, and the combination of calculations in all tasks with the parallel operation of external storage devices and input-output devices.

“Dispatcher-68” became the precursor of future advanced operating environments and the basis for a number of subsequent operating systems. “Dispatcher-68” also significantly influenced the emergence at IPMCT of the real-time operating system for BESM-6 – OS ND-70 (“New Dispatcher-70” – led by V.P. Ivannikov) with advanced features for organizing parallel computations and the possibility of BESM-6 operating within a multi-computer computing complex. It should be noted that the Laboratory 5 at IPMCT, led by Lev Nikolayevich Korolyov, whom he called “the servant for everything,” contained three sub-laboratories: sub-laboratory 5-1 was intended for creating software for machines developed in Laboratory № 1 at IPMCT – BESM-6 and AS-6 (the head of the Laboratory, one of the main students of S.A. Lebedev, later academician, Vladimir Andreevich Melnikov), and was directly led by Lev Nikolayevich himself; sub-laboratory 5-2 was intended for creating software for machines developed in Laboratory № 2 at IPMCT (the head of the Laboratory, one of the main students of S.A. Lebedev, later academician, Vsevolod Sergeevich Burtsev), and was led by Boris Artaşesovich Babayan, later a corresponding member of the Academy; sub-laboratory 5-3 was intended for creating computer-aided design systems and was led by Gennadiy Georgievich Ryabov, later a corresponding member of the Academy.

For the creation of BESM-6 and its software, Korolyov L.N., as part of the author’s team, was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1969.

Later, as the deputy chief designer, Korolyov L.N. participated in the development of the multi-machine computing complex AS-6, which was actively used to control space flights. The creation of operating systems for BESM-6 and AS-6 is considered one of the significant achievements of domestic system programming at the international level. As Lev Nikolayevich himself notes, such successes were achieved thanks to the simplicity of the logical construction of BESM-6, the simplicity of its architecture, which ensured success among users in solving computational tasks. In 1969, Korolyov L.N. was awarded the title of professor, and in 1981 he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the mathematics department.

From 1970 until the end of his life, Lev Nikolayevich Korolyov headed the department of automation of system computational complexes (ASCС) at the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics (CMC) of Moscow State University. He prepared more than 40 doctors and candidates of sciences. Many of them became leaders of new teams of system programmers in organizations of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in industry. Four of his students became members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Professor Korolyov L.N. devoted a lot of effort and attention to teaching and methodological work at the faculty and the university. Under his guidance, course programs for programming cycles for faculties of applied mathematics at universities of the Russian Federation were developed. During his time at the faculty, he delivered fundamental courses “Introduction to Programming,” “Architectures of Modern Computers,” “Microprocessors and Microcomputers.” His teaching activity was always characterized by the highest professionalism and respectful attitude towards colleagues, graduate students, and students. He is the author of 10 monographs and more than 80 scientific works.

For several years, Korolyov L.N. led the dissertation council for the defense of doctoral and candidate dissertations, was a member of the editorial boards of several scientific publications.

Together with R.L. Smelyanskiy, I.V. Mashechkin, N.V. Makarov-Zemlyanskiy, and A.V. Gulyaev, he made a significant contribution to the construction of the computational base of the Faculty of CMC. The educational and scientific computing complex (ESCC) they created became by the end of the 80s the most powerful computing complex at Moscow State University. It implemented the concept of a terminal network of BESM-6 and other computers, covering classrooms, departments, and laboratories of the faculty and providing both scientific research and student training. For organizing the system of collective use at Moscow State University, Korolyov L.N., as part of the author’s team, was awarded the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1982.

Korolyov L.N. led the work carried out at the ASCС department, aimed at creating tools for research and ensuring parallelism in computations – the main direction for increasing the performance of multiprocessor computing systems. These studies are dedicated to solving the problem of mapping an algorithm to the structure of a computing system; searching for solutions for distributing processes and data, based on program text analysis (static planning); combining them with dynamic planning – dynamic assignment of processors for work execution; studying approaches to finding the optimal computation schedule on multiprocessor systems using genetic algorithms.

Lev Nikolayevich was a remarkably calm, kind, and thoughtful person. Throughout the long time of communication with him, no one ever saw him angry, nor heard him raise his voice at anyone. Whenever disagreements arose in the team, he was able to find a reasonable compromise that satisfied everyone. Of course, the Machine Hall 26 played a significant role here, as well as the indisputable authority of Lev Nikolayevich, but the main thing was that he was able to find a truly reasonable, balanced solution. The dean of the Faculty of CMC, Academician Andrey Nikolayevich Tikhonov, always highly respected Lev Nikolayevich’s opinion.

The merits of Lev Nikolayevich Korolyov are highly appreciated by the government. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin (1971), the Patriotic War 2nd class (1985), the October Revolution (1986), For Merit to the Fatherland 4th class (1996), the Badge of Honor (1976), and medals “For the Capture of Budapest”, “For the Liberation of Belgrade”, “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War”. L.N. Korolyov is a laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1969), the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (1982), the Lomonosov Prize of Moscow State University (1985), and the S.A. Lebedev Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2006).