Computer Pioneer Award
The Computer Pioneer Award was established in 1981 by the Board of Governors of the IEEE Computer Society to recognize and honor the vision of those people whose efforts resulted in the creation and continued vitality of the computer industry. The award is presented to outstanding individuals whose main contribution to the concepts and development of the computer field was made at least fifteen years earlier. The recognition is engraved on a silver medal specially struck for the Society.
This award has now been renamed to "Women of the ENIAC Computer Pioneer Award".
Award types
The award has two types of recipients:- Computer Pioneer Charter Recipients - At the inauguration of this award, the individuals who already meet the Computer Pioneer Award criteria and also have received IEEE Computer Society awards prior to 1981.
- Computer Pioneer Recipients - Awarded annually since 1981.
Computer Pioneer Charter Recipients
- Howard H. Aiken - Large-Scale Automatic Computation
- Samuel N. Alexander - SEAC
- Gene M. Amdahl - Large-Scale Computer Architecture
- John W. Backus - FORTRAN
- Robert S. Barton - Language-Directed Architecture
- C. Gordon Bell - Computer Design
- Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. - Compatible Computer Family System/IBM 360
- Wesley A. Clark - First Personal Computer
- Fernando J. Corbato - Timesharing
- Seymour R. Cray - Scientific Computer Systems
- Edsger W. Dijkstra - Multiprogramming Control
- J. Presper Eckert - First All-Electronic Computer: ENIAC
- Jay W. Forrester - First Large-Scale Coincident Current Memory
- Herman H. Goldstine - Contributions to Early Computer Design
- Richard W. Hamming - Error-correcting code
- Jean A. Hoerni - Planar Semiconductor Manufacturing Process
- Grace M. Hopper - Automatic Programming
- Alston S. Householder - Numerical Methods
- David A. Huffman - Sequential Circuit Design
- Kenneth E. Iverson - APL
- Tom Kilburn - Paging Computer Design
- Donald E. Knuth - Science of Computer Algorithms
- Herman Lukoff - Early Electronic Computer Circuits
- John W. Mauchly - First All-Electronic Computer: ENIAC
- Gordon E. Moore - Integrated Circuit Production Technology
- Allen Newell - Contributions to Artificial Intelligence
- Robert N. Noyce - Integrated Circuit Production Technology
- Lawrence G. Roberts - Packet Switching
- George R. Stibitz - First Remote Computation
- Shmuel Winograd - Efficiency of Computational Algorithms
- Maurice V. Wilkes - Microprogramming
- Konrad Zuse - First Process Control Computer
- See external list of
Computer Pioneer Recipients
| Year | Recipient | Significant contribution |
| 2025 | Moshe Y. Vardi | For contributions to the development of logic as a unifying foundational framework and a tool for modeling computational systems. |
| 2025 | Gurindar S. Sohi | For contributions to the microarchitecture of instruction-level parallel processors and his impact on the computer architecture community. |
| 2024 | Fei Fei Li | For contributions to computer vision, especially the development of Imagenet. |
| 2024 | Leonard Kleinrock | For development of the mathematical theory of data networks, the technology underpinning the Internet. |
| 2023 | Daniel S. Bricklin | For creating VisiCalc, the progenitor of the modern spreadsheet. |
| 2023 | Scott Shenker | For pioneering contributions to scheduling and management of packet-switched networks, impacting the theory and practice of communication networks. |
| 2022 | Daphne Koller | For contributions to representation, inference, and learning in probabilistic models with applications to computational biology and human health. |
| 2022 | Christos Papadimitriou | For fundamental contributions to Computer Science, via the development of the theory of algorithms and complexity, and its application to the natural and social sciences. |
| 2021 | Peter J. Denning | For seminal contributions to virtual memory, the Internet infrastructure, and computing education. |
| 2021 | Moti Yung | For transformative innovations in "Trust in Computation;" specifically, coinventing "Malicious Cryptography", and pioneering contributions to "Distributed Cryptosystems". |
| 2020 | Demetri Terzopoulos | For a leading role in developing computer vision, computer graphics, and medical imaging through pioneering research that has helped unify these fields and has impacted related disciplines within and beyond computer science. |
| 2020 | Jack Dongarra | For leadership in the area of high-performance mathematical software. |
| 2019 | Laura Haas | For pioneering innovations in the architecture of federated databases and in the integration of data from multiple, heterogeneous sources. |
| 2019 | Jitendra Malik | For a leading role in developing Computer Vision into a thriving discipline through pioneering research, leadership, and mentorship. |
| 2018 | Barbara Liskov | for "pioneering data abstraction, polymorphism, and support for fault tolerance and distributed computing in the programming languages CLU and Argus." |
| 2018 | Bjarne Stroustrup | For pioneering C++. |
| 2018 | Larry Page | For the creation of the Google search engine and leadership in creating ambitious products and research initiatives. |
| 2018 | Sergey Brin | For the creation of the Google search engine and leadership in creating ambitious products and research initiatives. |
| 2016 | E. Grady Booch | For pioneering work in Object Modeling that led to the creation of the Unified Modeling Language. |
| 2015 | Michael J. Flynn | For more than 50 years of leadership including the creation of TCCA and SIGARCH. |
| 2015 | Peter M. Kogge | For developing algorithms for recurrence, development of the multi-core microprocessor chip and the formalization of methods for designing the control of a computer pipeline. |
| 2014 | Linus Torvalds | For pioneering development of the Linux kernel using the open-source approach. |
| 2013 | Edward Feigenbaum | For development of the basic principles and methods of knowledge-based systems and their practical applications. |
| 2013 | Stephen Furber | For pioneering work as a principal designer of the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor. |
| 2012 | Cleve Moler | For improving the quality of mathematical software, making it more accessible and creating MATLAB. |
| 2011 | David Kuck | For pioneering parallel architectures including the Illiac IV, the Burroughs BSP, and Cedar; and, for revolutionary parallel compiler technology including Parafrase and KAP Tools. |
| 2009 | Jean E. Sammet | For pioneering work and lifetime achievement as one of the first developers and researchers in programming languages. |
| 2009 | Lynn Conway | For contributions to superscalar architecture, including multiple-issue dynamic instruction scheduling, and for the innovation and widespread teaching of simplified VLSI design methods. |
| 2008 | Betty Jean Jeanings Bartik | Programmer including co-leading the first teams of ENIAC programmers, and pioneering work on BINAC and UNIVAC I |
| 2008 | Edward J. McCluskey | Design and synthesis of digital systems over five decades, including the first algorithm for logic synthesis |
| 2008 | Carl A. Petri | Petri net theory and then parallel and distributed computing |
| 2006 | Mamoru Hosaka | Computing in Japan |
| 2006 | Arnold M. Spielberg | Real-time data acquisition and recording that significantly contributed to the definition of modern feedback and control processes |
| 2004 | Frances E. Allen | Theory and practice of compiler optimization |
| 2003 | Martin Richards | System software portability through the programming language BCPL widely influential and used in academia and industry for a variety of prominent system software |
| 2002 | Per Brinch Hansen | Operating systems and concurrent programming, exemplified by work on the RC 4000 multiprogramming system, monitors, and Concurrent Pascal |
| 2002 | Robert W. Bemer | ASCII, ASCII-alternate sets, and escape sequences |
| 2001 | Vernon Schatz | Electronic Funds Transfer which made possible computer to computer commercial transactions via the banking system |
| 2001 | William H. Bridge | Computer and communications technology in the GE DATANET-30 |
| 2000 | Harold W. Lawson | Inventing the pointer variable and introducing this concept into PL/I |
| 2000 | Gennady Stolyarov | Minsk series computers' software, of the information systems' software |
| 2000 | Georgy Lopato | Belarus of the Minsk series computers' hardware, of the multicomputer complexes and of the RV family of mobile computers for heavy field conditions |
| 1999 | Herbert Freeman | SPEEDAC of Sperry Corporation, and computer graphics and image processing |
| 1998 | Irving John Good | Field of computing as a Cryptologist and statistician during World War II at Bletchley Park, as an early worker and developer of the Colossus at Bletchley Park and on the University of Manchester Mark I, the world's first stored program computer |
| 1997 | Homer Oldfield | Banking applications ERMA, and computer manufacturing |
| 1997 | Francis Elizabeth Snyder-Holberton | Sort-merge generator for the Univac and compilation |
| 1996 | Angel Angelov | Computer science technologies in Bulgaria |
| 1996 | Richard F. Clippinger | Converted the ENIAC to a stored program at Aberdeen Proving Ground |
| 1996 | Edgar Frank Codd | Abstract model for database management |
| 1996 | Norbert Frištacký | Digital devices |
| 1996 | Victor M. Glushkov | Digital automation of computer architecture |
| 1996 | Theory of computing and organizational activities | |
| 1996 | Jiri Horejs | Informatics and computer science |
| 1996 | Lubomir Georgiev Iliev | Computing in Bulgaria; 1st Bulgarian computers; abstract mathematics and software |
| 1996 | Robert E. Kahn | TCP/IP protocols and the Internet program |
| 1996 | László Kalmár | 1956 logical machine and the design of the MIR computer in Hungary |
| 1996 | Antoni Kiliński | First commercial computers and informatics curriculum in Poland, |
| 1996 | László Kozma | 1930 relay machines, and early computers in post-war Hungary |
| 1996 | Sergey A. Lebedev | Designed and constructed the first computer in the Soviet Union and founded the Soviet computer industry |
| 1996 | Alexey A. Lyaponov | Soviet cybernetics and programming |
| 1996 | Romuald W. Marczynski | Polish digital computers and computer architecture |
| 1996 | Grigore C. Moisil | Polyvalent logic switching circuits |
| 1996 | Ivan Plander | Computer hardware technology into Slovakia and the control computer |
| 1996 | Arnold Reitsakas | Estonia's computer age |
| 1996 | Antonín Svoboda | Computer research in Czechoslovakia and SAPO and EPOS computers |
| 1995 | Gerald Estrin | Early computers |
| 1995 | David Evans | Computer graphics |
| 1995 | Butler Lampson | Personal Computer |
| 1995 | Marvin Minsky | Artificial intelligence |
| 1995 | Kenneth Olsen | Minicomputers |
| 1994 | Gerrit A. Blaauw | IBM System/360 Series |
| 1994 | Harlan B. Mills | Structured Programming |
| 1994 | Dennis M. Ritchie | Unix |
| 1994 | Ken L. Thompson | Unix |
| 1993 | Erich Bloch | High speed computing |
| 1993 | Jack S. Kilby | Co-inventing the integrated circuit |
| 1993 | Willis H. Ware | Design of IAS and JOHNNIAC computers |
| 1992 | Stephen W. Dunwell | Project stretch |
| 1992 | Douglas C. Engelbart | Human computer interaction |
| 1991 | Bob O. Evans | Compatible computers |
| 1991 | Robert W. Floyd | Compilers |
| 1991 | Thomas E. Kurtz | BASIC |
| 1990 | Werner Buchholz | Computer architecture |
| 1990 | C.A.R. Hoare | Programming languages definitions |
| 1989 | John Cocke | Instruction pipelining and RISC concepts |
| 1989 | James A. Weidenhammer | High speed I/O mechanisms |
| 1989 | Ralph L. Palmer | IBM 604 electronic calculator |
| 1989 | Mina S. Rees | ONR Computer R&D development beginning in 1946 |
| 1989 | Marshall C. Yovits | ONR Computer R&D development beginning in 1946 |
| 1989 | F. Joachim Weyl | ONR Computer R&D development beginning in 1946 |
| 1989 | Gordon D. Goldstein | ONR Computer R&D development beginning in 1946 |
| 1988 | Friedrich L. Bauer | Computer stacks |
| 1988 | Marcian E. Hoff, Jr. | Microprocessor on a chip |
| 1987 | Robert R. Everett | Whirlwind |
| 1987 | Reynold B. Johnson | RAMAC |
| 1987 | Arthur L. Samuel | Adaptive non-numeric processing |
| 1987 | Niklaus E. Wirth | Pascal |
| 1986 | Cuthbert C. Hurd | Computing |
| 1986 | Peter Naur | Computer language development |
| 1986 | James H. Pomerene | IAS and Harvest computers |
| 1986 | Adriaan van Wijngaarden | ALGOL 68 |
| 1985 | John G. Kemeny | BASIC |
| 1985 | John McCarthy | LISP and artificial intelligence |
| 1985 | Alan Perlis | Computer language translation |
| 1985 | Ivan Sutherland | Graphics Sketchpad |
| 1985 | David J. Wheeler | Assembly language programming |
| 1985 | Heinz Zemanek | Computer and computer languages for Mailüfterl |
| 1984 | John Vincent Atanasoff | Electronic computer with serial memory |
| 1984 | Jerrier A. Haddad | IBM 701 |
| 1984 | Nicholas C. Metropolis | Solved atomic energy problems on ENIAC |
| 1984 | Nathaniel Rochester | Architecture of IBM 702 electronic data processing machines |
| 1984 | Willem L. van der Poel | Serial computer ZEBRA |
| 1982 | Harry D. Huskey | Parallel computer SWAC |
| 1982 | Arthur Burks | Electronic computer logic design |
| 1981 | Jeffrey Chuan Chu | Electronic computer logic design |