Angel Angelov (engineer)

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Angel Angelov is а Bulgarian engineer and scientist, who was a key figure in the development of computers and robotics in Bulgaria. He was an Academician in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Early Life

Angelov's scientific activities were aimed at creating large scientific collectives in order to solve scientific and technological problems that linked research and its results directly with their industrial application.

He was born on January 16th, 1929 in the village of Hlebarovo (today the town of Tsar Kaloyan, Razgrad Province), in a clerical family. In 1947, Angelov completed his school education in Byalain, and in 1952 he graduated from the State Polytechnic in Sofia as an electrical engineer. In the same year he became an assistant in the Faculty of Physics at State Polytechnic where he began his research and teaching career. In partnership with Professor Sazdo Ivanov and Docent Kiril Kirkov, Angelov participated in the collective that created the first test TV transmitter in Bulgaria, which transmitted for the first time in 1956. Angelov received the "National Medal of Labour" for his participation in this work.

In 1956, he started his doctorate in the Moscow Electrical Engineering Institute of Communications, under the supervision of Prof. S. I. Kataev, a scientist in the area of television. His dissertation topic, “A Study of Line Oscillators in Semiconductor Televisions”, was in step with the period of semiconductors’ introduction into televisions. His research contributed to the work of the Research Institute of Television Technology in Moscow, where he participated in the development of the first Soviet transistor TV receivers, Sputnik 1, 2, and 3, for which he received the Soviet silver medal “For Successes in the National Economy”.

In 1959 he defended his doctoral dissertation and returned to Bulgaria, where he started work at the Research and Development Institute for the Electric Industry (NIPKIEP in its Bulgarian abbreviation), organised by engineer Nikola Belopitov. In 1960 he was sent to the East Germany to participate in the joint East German-Bulgarian development of an Electronic Automated Telephone Centre on a semiconductor basis. Upon his return in 1963 he created a section of “Industrial Electronics” in NIPKIEP, which developed a host of devices of use to industry, such as an automated step voltage regulator for railway carriage lighting, or the unique for their time semiconductor high-frequency invertors for 400, 1000 and 3000 amperes, as well as others. It was during this time that he became a senior scientific associate (Docent).

Scientific Career

In 1965, after the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) Institute of Mathematics created the “Vitosha” computer, Prof. Ivan Popov and Docent Bogomil Gudev began developing and producing computer technology in Bulgaria. This was organised under the State Economic Association for Computer and Organisational Technology (DSO IZOT, in its Bulgarian abbreviation). Angelov was chosen as its deputy general director for research and technological activities. In 1968, Angelov became the director of the Central Institute for Computer Technology (TzIIT). During the same period the socialist countries started work on the Unified System of Computer Machines (Edinna Sistema ot Elektronni Izcheslitelni Mashini –ES EIM), and in 1968 Angel Angelov became the Head Constructor for computing in Bulgaria (a post he held until 1980) and the country’s representative in the Council of Head Constructors (Suvet na Glavnite Konstruktori – SGK) at the Coordination Centre of the Intergovernmental Commission for Computer Technology (part of CMEA, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the Soviet Bloc’s economic association). Angelov contributed to the Bulgarian economy through securing items to be produced in the country. Many of the devices invented in TzIIT during his tenure as Head Constructor and director are linked with his name both as an organiser and scientist. In 1971 Angelov and the collective he led became laureates of the Dimitrov Prize, the highest state prize in the spheres of science and arts, for their development of a memory device on magnetic tape. The device was produced in a modern factory and fulfilled CMEA needs, as well as being a major contributor to the country’s gross domestic product.

From 1971 to 1975 Angelov was the deputy general director of DSO IZOT, responsible for science and technology, as well as the director of TzIIT. From 1975 he created and led the Centre for Accelerated Implementation “Progress” as part of the State Committee for Science and Technology (CSTP), where he received the rank of deputy chairman. His activity took on a national scale with his post of deputy chairman of CSTP in 1977, and first deputy chairman of the same in 1978. In the period of 1970-1979, under his leadership as Head Constructor of Computer Technology in Bulgaria, many devices of the ES and SM (Small Machines) series were developed and produced in the country, resulting in over 2.5 billion levs in profit. This is the most categorical proof of Doc. Angelov’s abilities as a scientist, constructor, and organiser in the spheres of computer technology.

At the end of the 1970s, Doc. Angelov is both the deputy chairman of the National Council on Automation and deputy general constructor in robotics. His long-time dream to create a Bulgarian robotic industry spurred a new burst of creative energy in the country. On the basis of the Institute of Engineering Cybernetics (Institut po Tehnicheska Kibernetika – ITK) at BAS and the Centre of Applied Implementation, during 1978-9 he organised the Institute of Engineering Cybernetics and Robotics (ITKR), which became the biggest institute in BAS in only a few years and developed industrial robots and automated systems of governance, as well as many other systems and devices. ITKR became also the centre for the development of microcomputers and created the basis for DSO “Microprocessors and Personal Computers”, an association whose Governing Council Angelov chaired after 1987. As both a creator and fosterer of creative activity in ITKR, Angelov once again showed his organisational talent in science. In 1990, after a reorganization of ITKR, Academician Angelov took on the leadership of the Institute for Computer Systems at BAS, one of ITKR’s successors. After the 1992 BAS reorganization, the Institute united a few sections of the old ITKR and continued work as the Institute for Computer and Communication Systems at BAS. Here Acad. Angelov participated actively in both the organisation of research and in its Scientific Council. After the 2010 BAS reforms, Acad. Angelov remained part of the council of the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (Institut po Informatzionni I Komunikatzionni Tehnologii – IIKKT) in BAS. His wish to unite efforts in the areas of information and communication technologies was thus partially fulfilled.

The creative activity of Acad. Angelov is attested to by more than 50 scientific publications, 40 inventor’s certificates and patents abroad and 150 new devices as well as all developments which he participated in or led. As a chairman of scientific councils and as an editor in engineering magazines he introduced his views of engineering sciences’ links with industry. His contribution is recognised with his election as a Member-Correspondent of BAS in the area of “Electronics and Computer Technology” in 1981, and then as Academician and full member of BAS in 1989. He took a leading role in international cooperation and created many international enterprises between Bulgaria and Japan, as well as the USSR. From 1991 Acad. Angelov is the chairman of the Association for Bulgarian-Israeli Friendship, as well as the chairman of the Control Council of the Association of Bulgarian-South Korean Friendship. He is a member of the Japanese Robotics Association, the American Institute of Robotics, of the Japanese Governance Organisation, the Bulgarian-Japanese Committee of Economic and Scientific Cooperation. At the end of 1989 he was chosen as Deputy Chairman of BAS, a position which he held until the elections in 1991.

He has received many important orders and prizes such as “People’s Republic of Bulgaria”, “St. St. Cyril & Methodius”, as well as the Japanese medal “Order of the Rising Sun” after a successful mandate as an ambassador to the country between 1982 and 1986. In 1997 Acad. Angelov received the important international recognition of IEEE Computer Society – the Computer Pioneer Award – together with a host of world famous scientists who created the foundations of the global computer science. In 2009, on his 80th birthday, he received the highest Bulgarian award – “Stara Planina – 1st Order” – for his huge contributions to Bulgaria in the spheres of information technologies, computers and automation.

The name of Academician Angel Angelov and his work are intrinsically linked to a whole epoch of Bulgarian engineering and science, which created the country’s computer, electronic, and robotic industries. It was thanks to his outstanding organisational and governing abilities that by the end of the 1980s Bulgaria occupied a prestigious place in the production of computer technology, including in personal computers. His contribution was also felt in the education and careers of many young scientists, many of who occupy key positions in science, industry, and business both in Bulgaria and abroad.

Death

Angel Angelov passed away at the age of 88 on the 22nd April 2017.

References

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