Victor Shestakov

Who was Victor Shestakov?

Victor Ivanovich Shestakov was a Russian/Soviet logician and theoretician of electrical engineering. In 1935 he discovered the possible interpretation of Boolean algebra of logic in electro-mechanical relay circuits. He graduated from Moscow State University and worked there in the General Physics Department almost until his death.

Shestakov proposed a theory of electric switches based on Boolean logic earlier than Claude Shannon, though they defended Theses the same year but the first publication of Shestakov's result took place only in 1941.

In the early 20th century, relay circuits began to be more widely used in automatics, defense of electric and communications systems. Every relay circuit schema for practical use was distinct invention, because the general principle of simulation of these systems was not known. Shestakov's credit is the general theory of logical simulation inspired by rapidly increasing complexity of technical demands. Logical simulation require solid mathematical foundations. Namely these foundations were created by Shestakov.