Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society

Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society (DFBCS or DistFBCS) is an award and fellowship granted by the British Computer Society for members of the computing profession who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of computing.^[1]

Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society (DistFBCS)
Awarded for	"outstanding contribution to the advancement of computing"[1]
Sponsored by	BCS
Date	1969 (1969)
Location	London
Country	United Kingdom
No. of Fellows	33 as of 2020[update]
Website	www.bcs.org/more/awards-and-competitions/distinguished-fellowship-distfbcs/

The Distinguished Fellowship of BCS is awarded under bylaw 7 of the BCS's Royal Charter. Trustee Board Regulation 1.2 specifies that the award may be made even if the individual in question is not already a member of BCS and may not be eligible for any other class of membership.

The award was first approved in 1969 and the first election was made in 1971 to Edsger W. Dijkstra. The nominations committee is responsible for identifying and proposing suitable candidates. The actual election of such members of the profession is made by a resolution of the trustee board on the recommendation of the president.

Fellowship criteria

Any candidate for Distinguished Fellowship should be considered against the following criteria:^{[citation needed]}

• The contribution to computing should be seen in terms of major importance to the overall development of computing, with substantial personal recognition through peer review over a substantial and sustained career. There is no restriction on nomination on the grounds of nationality or of existing membership of BCS and nominations from business, industrial, research or academic backgrounds are equally acceptable and work of either a practical or theoretical nature may be equally valid.
• At any time, both the work and the stature of the individual nominated should be commensurate with the standards set by previous recipients although it is not expected that there will be more than one Distinguished Fellow elected every two years.

To be elected, the nomination must be on the Trustee Board Agenda, and at least 3/4 of those present must resolve in favour.

Distinguished Fellows

Laureates of the award include:^[2]

Name	Elected
Edsger W. Dijkstra, Ph.D.	1971
Christopher Strachey	1971
Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper, Ph.D.	1973
Sir Maurice Wilkes, Ph.D., FRS, FREng	1973
Andrei P. Ershov	1974
Tom Kilburn, Ph.D., CBE, FRS	1974
James H. Wilkinson	1974
Isaac L. Auerbach	1975
Donald W. Davies, CBE, FRS	1975
Bertram Vivian Bowden, Ph.D., Baron Bowden	1976
Charles W. Bachman	1977
Sir C. Anthony R. Hoare, FRS, FREng	1978
Gene M. Amdahl, Ph.D.	1979
Donald E. Knuth, Ph.D.	1980
Iann M. Barron	1986
A. J. Robin E. Milner, FRS	1988
Wladyslaw M. Turski	1989
Robb Wilmot	1990
Frederick P. Brooks, Ph.D.	1994
William H. Gates, III, KBE	1994
Timothy J. Berners-Lee, Dr.Sc., OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA	1996
David E. Deutsch, DPhil, FRS	1998
Peter T. Kirstein, Ph.D., CBE	2004
Scott McNealy	2007
Vint Cerf	2011
Warren East	2013
Hermann Hauser	2013
Steve Furber	2014
Wendy Hall	2016
Martha Lane Fox	2016
Simon Peyton Jones	2017
Eben Upton	2019
Sophie Wilson	2020

References

1. "Distinguished Fellowship (DistFBCS)". bcs.org. BCS. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
2. "Roll of Distinguished Fellows". bcs.org. BCS. Retrieved 7 May 2021.