IBM Research

Institutional History

Abstract

IBM Research can be traced back to 1945 and then Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at Columbia University. It is now the largest industrial research organization in the world with 12 laboratories on 6 continents. Famous inventions include the Automated teller machine (ATM), the electronic keypunch, the floppy disk, the hard disk drive, SQL, and the Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code and five employees have won Nobel Prizes for their work conducted at IBM.

Important Dates

1945Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory was founded at Columbia University as IBM's first laboratory, New York (N.Y.).

1956Zurich Research Laboratory was established.

1956 – 1972Emanuel Piore was on staff.

1958 – presentAlan Fowler has been on staff.

1960 – 1961Myriam Sarachik was on staff.

1960 – 1963Martin Gutzwiller was on staff.

1961The headquarters of IBM Research is moved to the new Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights (N.Y.).

1961 – 1963Arthur Anderson was on staff.

1961 – 1963Elliott Montroll was on staff.

1963 – 1965William Prager was on staff.

1963 – 1968John Armstrong was on staff.

1963 – 1996Dean Eastman was on staff.

1965 – 1984Arthur Anderson was on staff.

1965 – 1996James McGroddy was on staff.

1966 – 2003Praveen Chaudhari was on staff.

1972Haifa Research Laboratory was established.

1972 – 1980Joseph Demuth was on staff.

1972 – 1986Lewis Branscomb was on staff.

1976 – 1993John Armstrong was on staff.

1977Aron Pinczuk was on staff.

1980 – 1982Frances Hellman was on staff.

1980 – presentBernard Meyerson has been on staff.

1982Tokyo Research Laboratory was established.

1985Almaden Research Center was established.

1995China Research Laboratory in Beijing was established.

1995Austin Research Laboratory was established.

1996 – 2007Paul Horn was on staff.

1998India Research Laboratory was established.

2008China Research Laboratory in Shanghai was opened.

2010IBM Research - Brazil was established with locations in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

2011IBM Research - Ireland was established.

2011IBM Research - Melbourne was established.

2013IBM Research - Africa was established in Nairobi.

2015IBM Research - Africa opened a second laboratory in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Places

Headquarters

New York (N.Y.)

Yorktown Heights (N.Y.)

Subjects

Physical laboratories.

Physics -- Industrial applications.

Physics -- Industrial applications.

Relationships

People

Employees & Officers

Anderson, A. G. (Arthur George), 1926-

Director, San Jose Research Laboratory; Staff Director, Corporate Technical Committee; Director of Research; Director of Technical Assessment, Data Processing Group; Vice President and President, General Products Division; Vice President and Executive, Data Processing Product Group; and Vice President and Executive, Information Systems and Technology Group.

Armstrong, J. A. (John A.)

Researcher, Laser Science Group; Manager, Laser Group, Zurich Laboratory; Director of Physical Sciences; Member, IBM Corporate Technical Committee; Manager, Materials and Technology Development, General Technology Division Laboratory; Vice President, Logic and Memory Research Division; Director of Research; and Vice President, Science and Technology.

Branscomb, Lewis M., 1926-

Vice President and Chief Scientist; Member, Corporate Management Board; Director (World Trade Europe, Middle East, Africa Corporation); and President of R&D Incorporated (IBM subsidiary).

Chaudhari, Praveen, 1937-

Researcher; Manager; Acting Director, Physical Sciences Department; Director, Physical Sciences Department; and Vice President, Science.

Demuth, Joseph, 1946-

Post Doctoral Researcher; Member, Research Staff; Technical Assistant to the Corporate VP and Director of IBM Research; Research and Manager, Interface Physics Group, Research Division; Senior Manager, Physics and Materials Department, Research Division; Corporate Staff Positions (Multimedia Task Force and Network Services Task Force); and Program Director, University Relations for Research and Development.

Eastman, Dean E. (Dean Eric)

Researcher, Research Division; Manager, Photoemission and Surface Physics Group, Research Division; Manager, Lithography Packaging and Compound Semiconductor Technology; Director, Advanced Packaging Laboratory; Director, Product Development, Systems Technology Division; Vice President, Logic Memory and Packaging; Director of Product Development and Vice President, Systems Technology Division; and Director, Hardware Development and Re-engineering.

Fowler, Alan, 1928-

International Business Machines (IBM) Fellow and IBM Fellow Emeritus.

Gutzwiller, M. C. (Martin C.)

Physicist, Research Division, IBM Zurich; Director, General Sciences Department; and Researcher Emeritus.

Horn, Paul (Paul M.)

Senior Vice President and Director of Research.

Kelly, Mervin Joe

Research Management Consultant.

Kohn, Walter, 1923-2016

Consultant.

Kusch, Polykarp, 1911-1993

Consultant.

McGroddy, James C.

Researcher; Director, Semiconductor Science and Technology; Vice President, Logic and Memory; Senior Vice President, Director of Research; Senior Vice President and Special Advisor to the Chair.

Meyerson, B.

Researcher; International Business Machines (IBM) Fellow; Chief Technologist, Technology Group; Global Semiconductor Research and Development; Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Chief Technology Officer, Systems and Technology Group; and Vice President of Innovation and Global University Relations.

Mindlin, Raymond D. (Raymond David), 1906-1987

Consultant.

Montroll, E. W.

Director-General of Science, IBM Technology Center.

Pinczuk, Aron

Visiting Scientist.

Piore, Emanuel Ruben, 1908-2000

Director of Research; Vice President, Research and Engineering; Vice President and Group Executive; Vice President and Chief Scientist; and Member, Board of Trustees.

Prager, William, 1903-1980

Resident Consultant, Zurich Research Laboratory.

Sarachik, Myriam P.

Research Associate.

Scalapino, Douglas J.

Consultant.

Smith, Thor L.

Researcher in Polymer Sciences and Technology Department; and awarded the Outstanding Innovation Award (1978).

Yang, Chen Ning, 1922-

Member, Science Advisory Committee.

Associates & Members

Arakawa, Akio

Bloembergen, N.

Corson, Dale R.

Courant, Richard, 1888-1972

Frank, Charles, Sir

Gomory, Ralph E.

Hellman, Frances

Graduate Fellow.

Herman, Frank

Hollerith, Herman

Hutchisson, Elmer, 1902-

Kelly, Katherine Milsted

King, Ivan R.

Kroll, Norman Myles, 1922-

Lang, William W. (William Warner)

Moore, Elizabeth Jean Weichel

Nathan, Marshall I., 1933-

Von Braun, Wernher

Woodall, Jerry M.

Institutions

Institutional Hierarchy

Almaden Research Center (IBM Research)

Thomas J. Watson IBM Research Center

Collaborators

American Physical Society

Co-sponsored a conference.

Associates

American Institute of Physics

American Institute of Physics. Center for History of Physics

Participated in the history of physicists in industry project.

Columbia University. Department of Physics

Home of the first home of IBM Research, the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory.

Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.)

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

IBM archives.

IBM Archives

International Business Machines Corporation

Route 100, Somers, NY 10589, USA.

IBM research 60th anniversary celebration [videorecording] 2005 October 11.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

A. G. Anderson acceptance speech at the American Physical Society's George Pake Award ceremony, 1984.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

AIP Office of the Director addition to records of Marc H. Brodsky, email correspondence, 1993-2007.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics, History of Physicists in Industry records, 2003-2008.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Dale R. Corson papers, 1963-1977.

Carl A. Kroch Library. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections

Cornell University

2B Carl A Kroch Library, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

Electronic Computer Project (ECP) records, 1940-1967.

Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center

Institute for Advanced Study

1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA

Elizabeth Moore A career in crystallography, 1944-1998.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Emanuel Ruben Piore papers, circa 1918-1986.

Library

American Philosophical Society

105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

Herman Hollerith papers, 1850-1982 (bulk 1910-1927).

Manuscript Division

Library of Congress

James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA

Industrial physics history [audiorecording]: session V3 of the APS annual meeting, March 2008.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Akio Arakawa, 1997 July 17 and 18.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Elmer Hutchisson, 1970 October 22.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Emanuel Ruben Piore, 1977 March 7.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Frank Herman, 1982 June 17.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Ivan Robert King, 1977 July 18 and 20 July 1978.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Jerry Woodall, 2010 November 8.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with John A. Armstrong, 1984 October 17.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with John Allan Armstrong, 2004 March 2 and 3.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Katharine Milsted Kelly, 1976 July 2.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Marshall I. Nathan, 1984 October 17.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Nicolaas Bloembergen, 1983 June 27.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Norman M. Kroll, 1987 March 29.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Ralph Gomory, 2010 July 19.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with William W. Lang, 2004 July 12.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interviews with Lewis McAdory Branscomb, 2009-2010.

Archives. Pusey Library

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Richard Courant papers, 1902-1972.

Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library

New York University

70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, USA

Sir Charles Frank papers and correspondence, 1905-2001.

Arts and Social Sciences Library. Special Collections

University of Bristol

Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 ITJ, England, UK

Wernher Von Braun papers, 1796-1970 (bulk 1950-1970).

Manuscript Division

Library of Congress

James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA

Published Resources

Author

Advances in biomolecular simulations : joint international conference of IBM and Division de chimie physique (SFC), Obernai, France, 1991 / editors, Richard Lavery, Jean-Louis Rivail, Jeremy Smith ; co-editors, Jacqueline Metral, Clément Troyanowsky.

Proceedings of the IBM Scientific computing symposium on large-scale problems in physics : December 9-11, 1963.

Tetrahedrally bonded amorphous semiconductors, Yorktown Heights, 1974 / editors, M. H. Brodsky, S. Kirkpatrick, and D. Weaire.

Subject

Father, son & co. : my life at IBM and beyond / Thomas J. Watson, Jr. and Peter Petre.

IBM journal of research and development : anniversary issue.

The IBM world / Nancy Foy.