Anatoly Kitov

Anatoly Ivanovich Kitov (9 August 1920, Samara - 14 october 2005) was a pioneer of cybernetics in the Soviet Union.

The family moved to Tashkent in 1921 as his father, Ivan Stepanovich Kitov, had served as a junior officer in White Army, and wished to avoid the negative consequences of this. Here Anatoly did well at secondary school, gaining a gold medal when he graduated in 1939. He immediately enrolled for the Tashkent State Technical University but was called up for military service almost immediately. Whilst in the army his exceptional abilities brought him to the attention of Kliment Voroshilov who ordered him to enlist in the High Artillery School in Leningrad.

In 1952 Kitov found the sole copy of Norbert Wieners book Cybernetics. It was located in a secret library of the Special Construction Bureau in the Ministry of Machine and Instrument Building.