IEEE History Week

IEEE Day, celebrated on the first Tuesday in October, commemorates the first technical meeting of IEEE’s predecessor organization—the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE)—held on October 7, 1884, at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute. Formed in 1963 following AIEE’s merger with the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), IEEE established IEEE Day in 2009 to honor this foundational meeting and raise awareness of the global IEEE community.

Building directly on this tradition, IEEE History Week was launched in 2024 around IEEE Day to highlight historical activities across the entire institute. Organized by the IEEE History Committee in partnership with the IEEE History Center, IEEE History Week represents an opportunity for members to learn more about the history of IEEE and its fields of interest, and the wide range of IEEE history programs to which they can contribute. It also represents an opportunity for IEEE Organizational Units (OUs), such as regions, sections, societies and chapters, to plan and execute history-themed activities both locally and virtually, and to advertise them through the IEEE History website and to share news about their recent history activities.

Because of the full schedules of the many IEEE OUs, IEEE “Week” activities are encouraged to be scheduled any time during the month of October. Check out the calendar of events, and consider scheduling your own historical-themed event and submitting it to the calendar by emailing [email protected].