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Hello SIGCIS!
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<div>I’m delighted to report that last Thursday (the 18th), the Computer History Museum hosted a wonderful lecture by the 2024 CHM Book Prize Winner, Victor Petrov, discussing his latest book,
<i>Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing, Bulgarian Modernization, and the Information Age behind the Iron Curtain.</i></div>
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<yt-formatted-string id="info" class="style-scope ytd-watch-info-text"><span dir="auto" class="style-scope yt-formatted-string">Sep 22, 2025</span></yt-formatted-string></div>
</ytd-watch-info-text><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: medium;"></span><ytd-text-inline-expander id="description-inline-expander" always-show-expand-button="" class="style-scope ytd-watch-metadata" is-expanded="">
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);">[Recorded
September 18, 2025] </span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);"><br>
</span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);">Summary:</span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);">Behind
the Iron Curtain during the Cold War lies a high-stakes tale of secret espionage networks, utopian visions of a cybernetic future, and remarkable technocratic reform. Balkan Cyberia, by CHM Book Prize winner Victor Petrov, explores how Soviet-era Bulgaria
was a center of innovation in electronics and computing. In an age defined by Silicon Valley and Western narratives of progress, Petrov upends Western assumptions about computing in the Eastern bloc. </span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);"><br>
</span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);">This
presentation by Petrov crafts a narrative of coded ambition, hidden trade tunnels, and a cyber-elite that reshaped Cold War geopolitics. Revelations about how Bulgaria became an electronics powerhouse, capturing a staggering 45% market share of electronics
exports within the Eastern Bloc. He also draws contemporary parallels between socialist-era tech diplomacy and today's geopolitical and global supply chain tensions. </span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);"><br>
</span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);">Victor
Petrov is an associate professor of European History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, focusing on the history of the modern Balkans and Europe more broadly. </span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);">His book
<i>Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing</i> is the winner of the 2024 Computer History Museum Book Prize as well as the Barbara Jelavich Prize, the Marshal D. Shulman Prize, and the John D. Bell Memorial Book Prize. </span></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);"><br>
</span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);">He
received his PhD from Columbia University, and his MA and BA from Oxford University.</span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
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<div id="expanded" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><yt-attributed-string user-input="" class="style-scope ytd-text-inline-expander"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" dir="auto" role="text"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" dir="auto" style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19);">Enjoy: </span></span></yt-attributed-string></div>
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<div style="color: rgb(19, 19, 19); display: block;">Dag</div>
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-----<br>
Dag Spicer<br>
Senior Curator<br>
Computer History Museum<br>
Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing<br>
ACM History Committee<br>
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.<br>
Mountain View CA 94043</div>
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“History is a vast early warning system.” </div>
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— Norman Cousins, American journalist (1915-1990).</div>
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