An IBM Fellow is a position at IBM appointed by the CEO. Typically only four to nine (eleven in 2014) IBM Fellows are appointed each year, in May or June. Fellow is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achieve.

Overview

IBM Fellow Donna Dillenberger

The IBM Fellows program was founded in 1962 by Thomas Watson Jr., as a way to promote creativity among the company's "most exceptional" technical professionals and is granted in recognition of outstanding and sustained technical achievements and leadership in engineering, programming, services, science, design and technology. The first appointments were made in 1963.

The criteria for appointment are stringent and take into account only the most-significant technical achievements. In addition to a history of extraordinary accomplishments, candidates must also be considered to have the potential to make continued contributions. Francis E. Hamilton is believed to be the first IBM Fellow, appointed in 1963 for amongst other things his work on the development of the IBM 650. In 1989, Fran Allen became the first female IBM Fellow.

IBM Fellows are given broad latitude to identify and pursue projects in their area of expertise.

As of March 2026[update], only 341 IBMers have earned the IBM Fellow distinction, and 74 of them remain active IBM employees. IBM Fellows have generated over 9,329 patents and thousands of government and professional citations, received five Nobel Prizes and five Turing Awards, and created a massive store of published research in scientific journals.

List

In chronological order, as of 2026[update]:

Notes

  • The Corporate Technical Recognition Event (CTRE) commemorative book for each year lists the IBM Fellows designated in that year. In 2009, a similar Corporate Technical Recognition (CTR) book was published, but there was no CTRE. The following have been used to verify the names and dates for those years in the list above: IBM CTRE Book, June 5–8, 1984, San Francisco, California IBM CTRE Book, May 11–14, 1987, Orlando, Florida IBM CTRE Book, May 16–19, 1988 IBM CTRE Book, June 4–7, 1990, San Diego, California IBM CTRE Book, June 5–8, 1995, San Diego, California IBM CTRE Book, June 9–12, 1998, San Francisco, California IBM CTRE Book, June 8–11, 1999, Naples, Florida IBM CTRE Book, June 5–8, 2000 IBM CTRE Book, May 29–June 1, 2001, Palm Beach, Florida IBM CTRE Book, June 4–7, 2002, Naples, Florida IBM CTRE Book, June 2–5, 2003, Scottsdale, Arizona IBM CTRE Book, May 25–28, 2004, Boca Raton, Florida IBM CTRE Book, May 24–27, 2005 IBM CTRE Book, May 23–26, 2006 IBM CTRE Book, May 14–17, 2007 IBM CTRE Book, May 12–15, 2008, Phoenix, Arizona IBM CTR Book, individually distributed, 2009 IBM CTR Book, individually distributed, 2010

External links