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IBM Fellow

Appointed position at IBM

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Overview

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, 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.

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