When we were choosing who to profile in our videos, a lot of names came up. Here's our Top 150, as voted on by BCS members. This list is by no means exhaustive, and you may notice that some of these people have little to do with information technology. Our goal is to celebrate people who used information (in all its guises) to contribute to society.
We've initally listed these individuals in the order that BCS members voted for them, but you can vote to move people up in the list; the number to the right of each name shows how many votes that visitors to this site have given each individual. You can also comment on individuals if you want to share your thoughts about them.
Please note: this is just a fun vote and does not affect the outcome of the main voting for your favourite pioneer.
If you feel that there's someone we missed, tell us in our main 'Who's Your Top Pioneer' discussion area.
IT research engineer, specialising in telemetry and publish/subscribe messaging; also leads a research team at IBM [more info]
Influential in the development of the computer algorithm; broke codes during World War II [more info]
Engineer and computer pioneer who created world's first functional program-controlled Turing-complete computer, the Z3 [more info]
Called the "father" of the analysis of algorithms and made fundamental contributions in several branches of theoretical computer science [more info]
BBC radio presenter and author; wrote the sci-fi trilogy 'Journey into Space' [more info]
Co-founder of Intel [more info]
Regarded as the world's first computer programmer [more info]
Created the World Wide Web [more info]
Known for his work on databases [more info]
did he develop the acceleration techniques known as Bachman Turner Overdrive ?
7 Jun, - 13:31 - anon
One of the most influential scientists of all time [more info]
Artist and graphic designer who created many of the interface elements for the Apple Macintosh [more info]
Proposed the double helix structure in the DNA molecule [more info]
Worked out key steps in the nuclear physics involved in thermonuclear reactions and the hydrogen bomb [more info]
Discovered the Diffie-Hellman key exchange [more info]
Originated the concept of the first programmable computer [more info]
IT consultant and author; nominated for a Pulitzer prize for his book 'The Wired Society: A Challenge for Tomorrow' [more info]
Best known for bridging the boundary between academia and industry and the formation of numerous high-tech businesses [more info]
Known for developing the ALOHAnet system for wireless computer communication [more info]
Created Q-Systems, one of the earliest linguistic formalisms used in the development of the TAUM-METEO machine translation prototype. [more info]
Developed the first compiler for a computer programming language and credited with popularizing the term "debugging" for fixing computer glitches [more info]
Inventor of Boolean logic (the basis of modern digital computer logic) and a founder of the field of computer science [more info]
Lead architect for the Transputer and holds 37 patents, all in microprocessing and multi-processing [more info]
Inventor and entrepreneur, known particularly for inventing dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaners [more info]
Co-founder of Sun Microsystems [more info]
Businesswoman and philanthropist who won the Beacon fellowship prize for pioneering work in harnessing IT for the public good [more info]
Renowned British theoretical physicist [more info]
Co-founder of Acorn Computers [more info]
Known for his contributions to object-oriented programming and graphical user interfaces [more info]
Author; coined the term 'cyberspace' [more info]
Former president of IBM, developed IBM's renowned management style and corporate culture [more info]
Contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer [more info]
Major contributions in the foundation of mathematics, proof theory, especially on natural deduction and sequent calculus [more info]
Invented the relational model for database management, the theoretical basis for relational databases [more info]
Discovered the antibiotic substance penicillin [more info]
Mathematician, astronomer, physician, often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy [more info]
Computer scientist who contributed to development of BAN and co-invented the Needham-Schroeder security protocol which forms the basis of the Kerberos authentication and key exchange system. [more info]
Developers of the VisiCalc spreadsheet program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Bricklin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Frankston
One of the designers of the BBC Micro and the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor [more info]
Developed the Laws of Motion [more info]
Chemist and physicist who discovered the concept of radioactive half life and is also widely credited with first splitting the atom [more info]
Social reformer and one of the founders of socialism and the cooperative movement [more info]
Entrepreneur who set up Acorn Computers [more info]
Known as the 'father of Wi-Fi' [more info]
Made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics [more info]
Co-designed TCP/IP [more info]
They are believed to have created the concept of zero in the 9th century, but there has been some debate around this recently http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_in_medieval_Islam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Maths
the Jameel Foundation sponsored a really good show on how the Muslim world had introduced many innovations including the 'zero' thing. there's still stuff about it available here http://www.1001inventions.com/
20 May, - 14:17 - James
Yeah, the researcher, writer and I all had a great trip to the science museum in London to see the amazing exhibition about Muslim Innovations and zero. It would have been fun to be able to make that film too - so many decisions!
20 May, - 17:14 - Sean C
Best known for his contributions to the development of logic programming, starting with the procedural interpretation of Horn clauses [more info]
Computer scientist who headed the team that invented the first widely used high-level programming language (FORTRAN); inventor of the Backus-Naur form (BNF) [more info]
One of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy [more info]
Laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial/binary nomenclature. Also known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is considered one of the fathers of modern ecology [more info]
Comments closed
Rhodri Marsden: Why the internet's critics are wrong - Features, Gadgets & Tech - The Independent http://ind.pn/9F4i4H
Film maker or writer? Amateur family film maker? Enter BCS film competition on the digital society & win cash prize http://bit.ly/bNEz8C
@OrtisDeley Tx 4 your help with information pioneers you were great to work with
This is cool.
Clive Sinclair is part of Britain’s pop culture! After a few years of silence Clive Sinclair gets more and more public interest again. After last years rush on Sir Clive (BBC’s Micro Men and Ele...
Bonjour, Hedy Lamarr is a difficult person to appreciate. That is why, with my poor means I tabled this video on Youtube. I could have done better, but it is available. http://www.youtube.com/...
No, Ada "explained" what Babbage had done by giving examples of how his hardware could be used. So she was the software pioneer.