He attended Franklin and Marshall College for his undergraduate degree. In 1982 he received his Ph.D. from Yale University's Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, where he conducted research on X-ray scattering and protein structure. In 1982 he joined IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center as a member of the speech synthesis group. For much of his career, he has published technical articles on scientific visualization, computer art, and recreational mathematics. Pickover is still employed at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where he is the editor of the IBM Journal of Research and Development. He is also an associate editor for the scientific journal Computers and Graphics. For many years he wrote the Brain-Boggler column for Discover magazine, and he currently writes the Brain-Strain column for Odyssey magazine. He has written several science fiction novels as well, including his Neoreality series.
