# Darío Gil

Under Secretary for Science, U.S. Department of Energy. TIME100 AI 2026, Thinkers. He came to the U.S. from Spain as an exchange student, led the IBM team that put the first quantum computer on the cloud, and is now DOE's Under Secretary for Science. ([energy.gov](https://www.energy.gov/science/articles/under-secretary-gils-letter-community))

- Born: El Palmar, Murcia, Spain ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar%C3%ADo_Gil))
- Education: PhD, Electrical engineering and computer science, MIT, 2003; BE, Electrical engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1998 ([energy.gov](https://www.energy.gov/person/dario-gil), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/darío-gil-58575713), [stevens.edu](https://www.stevens.edu/news/stevens-alumnus-dario-gil-98-confirmed-as-doe-under-secretary-of-science))
- Career: U.S. Department of Energy (Under Secretary for Science, 2025 to now); IBM (Senior Vice President and Director of Research, 2003–2025) ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar%C3%ADo_Gil), [energy.gov](https://www.energy.gov/person/dario-gil), [stevens.edu](https://www.stevens.edu/news/stevens-alumnus-dario-gil-98-confirmed-as-doe-under-secretary-of-science), [energy.gov](https://www.energy.gov/science/articles/under-secretary-gils-letter-community))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/dario-gil/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/dario-gil

- His IBM team launched the world's first cloud-accessible quantum computer in May 2016. ([energy.gov](https://www.energy.gov/science/articles/under-secretary-gils-letter-community))
- Became the first member from industry to be elected chair of the National Science Board in 30 years. ([energy.gov](https://www.energy.gov/person/dario-gil))
- Was the force behind the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab and the AI Alliance while at IBM. ([energy.gov](https://www.energy.gov/person/dario-gil))
- Now oversees DOE's Office of Science, the largest federal funder of physical-science research, which supports all 17 national labs. ([energy.gov](https://www.energy.gov/person/dario-gil))
- Spent 22 years at IBM Research working on semiconductors, AI and quantum computing after his MIT PhD. ([energy.gov](https://www.energy.gov/science/articles/under-secretary-gils-letter-community))