Ponder Stibbons is a wizard. He is employed at the Unseen University as the Head of Inadvisably Applied Magic, Praelector, and as the Reader in Invisible Writings. He does most of his work in collaboration with students at the University's High Energy Magic building.
Stibbons' most successful creation is Hex, a magical computer composed of glass tubes full of ants, and other assorted complex systems, such as a mouse. Hex is initially capable only of simple arithmetic; however as the series continues, and more complex additions are made to Hex, it develops the semi-sapience of a child, the ability to add to and redesign itself, and the ability to do complex spells much, much more rapidly than a team of wizards could (for example, when they were searching for Rincewind in Interesting Times, Hex did in a day what would have taken the UU Faculty several months). Several notable components of Hex are the wheel of ram skulls, the beachball that goes "parp" every fourteen minutes, the Unreal Time Clock and the F.T.B. (Fluffy Teddy Bear).