Thomas J. Watson IBM Research Center

Institutional History

Abstract

The center began in 1945 as the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at Columbia University. The headquarters were relocated to Yorktown Heights in 1961 and was expanded to Hawthorne in 1984. It is named for both Thomas J. Watson, Sr. and Thomas Watson, Jr. who led IBM as president and CEO respectively from 1915 to 1971 and is the headquarters of IBM's Research Division.

Important Dates

1945Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory was created at Columbia University, New York (N.Y.).

1946 – 1968Llewellyn Thomas was on staff.

1949 – 1954Leon Brillouin was on staff.

1951 – 1961Arthur Anderson was on staff.

1952 – 1955Erwin Hahn was on staff.

1952 – 1999Rolf Landauer was on staff.

1952 – presentRichard Garwin has been on staff.

1957 – 2015Peter Sorokin was on staff.

1958 – 2010Benoit Mandelbrot was on staff.

1960 – 1963Elliott Lieb was on staff.

1960 – 1992Reona Esaki was on staff.

1960 – presentFrank Fang has been on staff.

1961Headquarters was moved to a new lab designed by Eero Saarinen, Yorktown Heights (N.Y.).

1963 – 1965Arthur Anderson was on staff.

1963 – 1970Phillip Stiles was on staff.

1963 – 1992Leroy Chang was on staff.

1963 – 1993Martin Gutzwiller was on staff.

1963 – 2012Richard Brewer was on staff.

1968 – 1976John Armstrong was on staff.

1969 – unknownNorton D. Lang was on staff..

1973 – 1978Mark Kryder was on staff.

1973 – presentChang Tsuei has been on staff.

1977 – 1979Steven Louie was on staff.

1977 – 1995Franz Himpsel was on staff.

1978 – 1993Richard Webb was on staff.

1978 – presentJohn Kirtley has been on staff.

1979 – 1994Paul Horn was on staff.

1983 – presentRudolf Tromp has been on staff.

1984An additional laboratory was opened in Hawthorne, New York.

1984 – 1991David Awschalom was on staff.

1984 – presentJerry Tersoff has been on staff.

1987 – 1990Gerald Dolan was on staff.

1987 – presentJoseph Demuth has been on staff.

Places

Headquarters

New York (N.Y.)

Yorktown Heights (N.Y.)

Subjects

Physical laboratories.

Physics -- Industrial applications.

Physics -- Industrial applications.

Citations

Historical information from Chronological History of IBM timeline (http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/history_intro.html).

Relationships

People

Employees & Officers

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

Technical Engineer; Computer and Physics Researcher; Research Physicist, Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory; and Assistant Director of Research.

Armstrong, J. A. (John A.)

Manager, Quantum Optics and Theoretical Physics Groups.

Awschalom, D. (David)

Researcher and Manager.

Birgeneau, Robert J. (Robert Joseph), 1942-

Consultant.

Brewer, Richard G.

Research Physicist; IBM (International Business Machines) Fellow; and Emeritus IBM Fellow.

Brillouin, Léon, 1889-1969

Director of Electronic Education and Director of Research.

Burstein, Elias, 1917-2017

Consultant.

Chang, Leroy L.

Researcher; Manager, Molecular Beam Epitaxy; and Manager, Quantum Structure.

Dolan, Gerald

Researcher.

Esaki, Reona, 1925-

Researcher.

Fang, Frank F.

Researcher.

Fisch, N. J.

Visiting Scientist.

Garwin, Richard L.

Physicist; Director of Applied Research; Director; Fellow; Emeritus Fellow.

Gutzwiller, M. C. (Martin C.)

Researcher.

Hahn, E. L. (Erwin Louis), 1921-

Research Physicist, Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory.

Himpsel, F. J.

Postdoctoral Researcher; Researcher; Manager; and Head, Surface Physics Department.

Horn, Paul (Paul M.)

Research Staff; Acting Director, Physical Sciences Department; Director, Physical Sciences Department; and Director, Silicon Technology.

Kirtley, John R.

Researcher and Emeritus Researcher.

Kryder, Mark H.

Researcher and Manager, Exploratory Bubble Devices.

Landauer, Rolf William, 1927-1999

Physicist; Director, Physical Sciences; Assistant Director of Research; and IBM Fellow.

Lang, Norton D.

Researcher and Manager, Electron Structure Theory Group.

Lieb, Elliott H.

Staff Theoretical Physicist, Research Division and Consultant.

Louie, Steven G., 1949-

Fellow in Theoretical Solid State Physics.

Mandelbrot, Benoît B.

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

Sorokin, Peter P.

Staff Physicist and International Business Machines (IBM) Fellow.

Steinhardt, Paul J.

Consultant.

Stiles, Phillip J.

Researcher.

Tersoff, J.

Researcher.

Thomas, Llewellyn Hilleth, 1903-1992

Member, Senior Staff, Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory.

Tromp, R. M.

Researcher and Manager.

Tsuei, Chang C.

Researcher and Manager.

Webb, R. A. (Richard Alan)

Researcher.

Associates & Members

Brodsky, M. H. (Marc Herbert), 1938-

Dill, Frederick Hayes Jr.

Dumke, W. P.

Eckart, W. J. (Wallace John)

Grischkowsky, Daniel Richard

Lasher, Gordon, 1926-

Montroll, E. W.

Nathan, Marshall I., 1933-

Smith, William V. (William Vick), 1916-

Stern, Frank

Institutions

Institutional Hierarchy

IBM Research

Associates

American Institute of Physics

Corporate Associate.

Columbia University. Department of Physics

Home of the original Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory before moving to Yorktown Heights, New York.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

IBM archives.

IBM Archives

International Business Machines Corporation

Route 100, Somers, NY 10589, 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

Benoit Mandelbrot papers, 1932-2010.

Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Stanford University

Stanford, CA 94305, USA

Excerpts from T. J. Watson IBM Research Center laboratory notebooks (1949) relating to radiation measured from junctions of GaAs with explanatory notes added by Marshall I. Nathan, 1962.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Leon Brillouin papers, 1877-1972.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Llewellyn Hilleth Thomas papers, 1925-1983.

Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries

North Carolina State Archives

Box 7111, Raleigh, NC 27695-7111, USA

Oral history interview with Daniel Richard Grischkowsky, 1984 October 19.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with E. W. Montroll, 1983 September 26.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Erwin Louis Hahn, 1986 August 21.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Erwin Louis Hahn, 1986 August 21.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Frederick Hayes Dill, W. P. Dumke, Gordon Lasher, and Frank Stern, 1984 October 18.

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 Marc Brodsky, 2008 January 8.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Richard Garwin, 2012 December 20.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Richard L. Garwin, 1986 October 23 to 8 June 1987.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Rolf William Landauer, 1984 October 17.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Richard L. Garwin papers, circa 1949-2007.

IBM Archives

International Business Machines Corporation

Route 100, Somers, NY 10589, USA.

Rolf William Landauer response to the Laser History Project Survey, 1984.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

W. J. Eckert papers, 1931-1975.

Charles Babbage Institute. Center for the History of Computing

University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

William V. Smith response to Laser History Project Survey, 1985.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA