History of IBM: Company timeline, milestones & facts

It was the classical conflict of antheral versus machine.

On May 3, 1997, satellite chess champion Garry Kasparov faced disconnected with IBM’s (IBM) Deep Blue supercomputer successful New York City.

Kasparov, a Russian chess grandmaster, had antecedently beaten an earlier mentation of the strategy successful a six-game lucifer successful Philadelphia successful 1996, though the machine managed to triumph 1 game.

That triumph “was precise important to america to amusement that we were connected the close track,” Murray Campbell, a subordinate of the Deep Blue improvement team, said successful a 2017 interrogation with Scientific American in 2017.

Now, an upgraded Deep Blue was acceptable for a rematch with the world’s top-ranked subordinate — and past was astir to beryllium made.

“By the clip of our last lucifer successful 1997, we had made capable improvements to the strategy based connected our acquisition that we were capable to win,” Campbell said.

And that’s precisely what happened. On May 11, Deep Blue became the archetypal machine to decision a reigning satellite chess champion nether tourney conditions.

The supercomputer’s triumph is conscionable 1 of galore milestones successful IBM’s 114-year history, which dates backmost to June 16, 1911, erstwhile 3 firms came unneurotic to signifier the Computing-Tabulating-Recording-Company successful Endicott, NY.

Quick facts astir IBM

• The institution employs astir 270,000 to 286,800 radical worldwide.

• IBM has completed 15 banal splits and 26 banal dividend distributions, with its past accepted divided occurring successful 1999.

• The institution was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average for the archetypal clip connected May 26, 1932, but was removed successful 1939. It was re-added to the scale connected June 29, 1979, replacing Chrysler.

IBM’s founding & aboriginal years

Thomas J. Watson Sr. took implicit successful 1914, transforming the institution from a shaper of punched-card machines, scales, and clip clocks into a person successful tabulating and computing systems.

“He embraced automation, mechanization and data-recording trends emerging astatine the crook of the period to conscionable the increasing request crossed nine for amended ways to cod and negociate information,” IBM said.

On Feb. 14, 1924, the institution was rebranded arsenic International Business Machines.

Watson, who coined the company’s “THINK” slogan, introduced initiatives specified arsenic hiring disabled workers and promoting worker education.

His “Open Door” argumentation allowed employees to pass straight with immoderate level of absorption — including Watson himself.

Nearly a period later, the institution named its AI level IBM Watson successful his honor.

Related: IBM’s logo implicit the years: A timeline of ambition

IBM Watson gained wide attraction successful 2011 erstwhile it defeated quality champions connected the TV quiz show Jeopardy successful different man-versus-machine confrontation.