The George R. Stibitz Computer Pioneer Award

The George R. Stibitz Computer & Communications Pioneer Award

In 1997 the American Computer Museum launched an award ceremony to honor the living pioneers of the computer, communications and the information age in general. This award is named in honor of Dr. George R. Stibitz who in 1937 pioneered the use of relays for digital computation at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. The award is given in conjunction with the Department of Computer Science Montana State University - Bozeman Although the American Computer Museum has no formal ties with Montana State University, it does however host joint programs and acts as a teaching resource for their Computer Science Department in Bozeman. The awardees travel in person to Bozeman to receive their award and are available to meet with the general public at a special forum. In the evening, the awards banquet is held.

The 2006 Honoree:

Sponsored by: Department of Computer Science, MSU College of Engineering, MSU

College of Letters & Science, MSU Humanities Institute, MSU

Edward O. Wilson, Pioneer of the Electronic Encyclopedia of Life

Pellegrino University Research Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University

The 2005 Honorees:

Sponsored by: EDS Dick Walter Auto Center Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce

ILX Lightwave Right Now Technologies Zoot Enterprises Old Main Gallery & Framing

College of Engineering, MSU Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, MSU

Dept. of Computer Science, MSU Western Transportation Institute, MSU

Ross Perot, Pioneer of the Data Processing Industry and Founder of EDS

Paul Baran, Pioneer of Distributed Communications & Packet Switching - the seminal foundations of the Internet

John Blankenbaker, Pioneer of the First Personal Computer: The Kenbak-1

The 2002 Honorees:

Sponsored by: Qwest Gallatin Development Corporation Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Keynote Speaker: Steve Wozniak, Inventor of the Apple I & Apple II Computers

& Co-founder of the Apple Computer

Ralph Baer, Inventor of the first home video game

Martin Cooper, Inventor of the cell telephone

Leroy Hood, Inventor of the automated DNA sequencer

Klein Gilhousen, Principal Designer of CDMA digital cell phone technology

James Russell, Inventor of the digital compact disc

Jon Titus, Inventor of the Mark-8, the first hobbyist microcomputer kit

The 2001 Honorees:

Sponsored by: ILX Lightwave Qwest Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Ted Hoff, Federico Faggin and Stan Mazor

Special 30th Anniversary Celebration Stibitz Computer Pioneer Awards for their co-invention of the Microprocessor

Stan Mazor - The Microprocessor, Co-Inventor, recipient of the individual George R. Stibitz Computer Pioneer Award

(Ted Hoff & Federico Faggin received their individual George R. Stibitz Awards in 1997)

The 2000 Honorees:

Sponsored by: ILX Lightwave US West Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Steve Wozniak, Inventor of the Apple I & Apple II Computers, Co-founder of the Apple Computer

Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web

Ray Tomlinson, Inventor of e-mail

The 1999 Honorees:

James Harris, A key contributor to the invention of the first transistorized computer - the TRADIC

Vinton G. Cerf, Pioneer of the Internet: major design and development contributor to the original ARPANET NCP protocol and Co-Inventor of the Internet's TCP/IP protocol

Robert E. Kahn, Pioneer of the Internet: major designer of the ARPANET architecture, inventor of Open Architecture Networking and co-inventor of the Internet's TCP/IP protocol

The 1998 Honorees: