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.
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:
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:
Name Elected Edsger W. Dijkstra 1971 Christopher Strachey 1971 Grace Hopper 1973 Maurice Wilkes 1973 Andrey Ershov 1974 Tom Kilburn 1974 James H. Wilkinson 1974 Isaac L. Auerbach 1975 Donald W. Davies 1975 B. V. Bowden, Baron Bowden 1976 Charles W. Bachman 1977 C. A. R. Hoare 1978 Gene Amdahl 1979 Donald Knuth 1980 Iann Barron 1986 Robin Milner 1988 Wladyslaw M. Turski 1989 Robb Wilmot 1990 Fred Brooks 1994 Bill Gates 1994 Tim Berners-Lee 1996 David Deutsch 1998 Peter T. Kirstein 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
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