History Activities

History Activities – 2026

 in History Activities

Latest update 12-01-2026

Team

Martin BastiaansMartin

David DiasDavid

Evgen PichkalyovEvgen

Mathini SellathuraiMathini

 

The History Activities Committee is looking forward to assist you in your history-related activities. The 2026 committee consists of:

  • Martin Bastiaans, History Activities Coordinator (2021–2026)
  • David Dias, current IEEE History Committee member (2026)
  • Evgen Pichkalyov, past IEEE History Committee member (2022–2023)
  • Mathini Sellathurai, current IEEE History Committee member (2024–2026)

Feel free to contact us at [email protected], but include [email protected] in CC, just in case the email alias may not work properly.

IEEE Region 8 History webpage

The Region 8 History webpage is updated whenever new information becomes available.

News

  • † Death announcements
    Past Region 8 Director Paul Jespers, Region 8 Student Activities Chair in 1967–1969 and Region 8 Director in 1972–1973, passed away on 5 December 2025 at the age of 97.
    A few days later, André Vander Vorst, Region 8 Student Activities Chair in 1967–1968 (acting instead of Paul Jespers), 1972–1973, and 1978–1983, passed away on 25 December 2025 at the age of 90.

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  • HISTELCON
    HISTELCON – HISTory of ELectrotechnology CONference – was a flagship conference series of IEEE Region 8 held every two years and is dedicated to any aspects of the history of electrical engineering, electronics, telecommunications, computing, and their impact on social and economic development. HISTELCON 2025 in Bonn was the ninth HISTELCON, with predecessors in Paris (2008), Madrid (2010), Pavia (2012), Tel-Aviv (2015), Kobe (2017, together with Region 10), Glasgow (2019), Moscow (2021), and Florence (2023).
    As of 2026, HISTELCON will be an annual multi-regional IEEE conference (of Regions 7, 8, 9 and 10), with HISTELCON 2026 taking place in Tokyo, Japan, on 25–27 November 2026. See the Call for papers for more information.

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  • Recently added Oral Histories
    The List of Oral Histories related to Region 8 (.xlsx) on the Region 8 History webpage has been updated by adding the transcripts of interviews with

    • Moshe Kam, an oral history conducted in 2024 by Michael Geselowitz, IEEE History Center, Piscataway, NJ, USA,
    • Maria A. Stuchly, an oral history conducted in 2021 by Allison Marsh, IEEE History Center, Piscataway, NJ, USA.

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  • IEEE Milestones approved but not yet dedicated:
    • UK and Ireland: Manchester Code, 1948–1949
      Dedication ceremony in Manchester – IEEE UK and Ireland Section: 13 April 2026
    • UK and Ireland: The Colossus computers, 1944–1945
      Dedication ceremony in Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes – IEEE UK and Ireland Section: To be decided

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  • IEEE Milestone proposals under consideration by the IEEE History Committee

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  • News Archive — News items about Milestones and Conferences are ordered by year: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010.

Highlights from 2025 – see also News Archive: 2025

  • IEEE Milestones dedicated in 2025
    • Heverlee, Belgium: Rijndael and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), 1995–1998
      Dedication ceremony: 18 November 2025 – Benelux Section
      In 1995-1998, Rijndael, an innovative and computationally efficient series of secure block ciphers for encrypting data and providing provable security against attacks, was created by Belgian cryptographers Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen. In 2000, their design won an international competition sponsored by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA). Rijndael became the basis of AES in 2001, leading to its worldwide use for data security, encryption, and authentication.
    • Haifa, Israel: Intel 8087 math coprocessor, 1980
      Dedication ceremony: 14 September 2025 – Israel Section
      Intel’s release of its 8087 math coprocessor vastly expanded the capabilities of its 8086 and 8088 microprocessors by enabling floating-point arithmetic, binary-decimal conversion, and transcendental functions, using special CPU instructions designed to invoke a coprocessor. The Intel 8087’s robust exception handling and breadth of features surpassed all existing computers. Its data types and arithmetic were the basis of the IEEE 754 Floating-Point Standard, and revolutionized computing.
    • Galway, Ireland: Anderson bridge, 1891
      Dedication ceremony: 5 September 2025 – UK and Ireland Section
      Developed by Alexander Anderson here, formerly Queen’s College Galway, the Anderson Bridge is a modified Maxwell Bridge specialised for measuring electrical inductance by comparing an unknown inductance value with the capacitance of a fixed reference capacitor. While operating in a manner similar to how the Wheatstone Bridge measures resistance, it was the first invention to enable precise measurements of inductance ranging from a few microhenrys to several henrys.
    • Antwerp, Belgium: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) enabling broadband internet, 1993-1997
      Dedication ceremony: 4 September 2025 – Benelux Section
      In 1997, Alcatel’s A1000 ASAM product revolutionized broadband Internet access by providing multi-megabit per second downstream speeds over ubiquitous but decades-old and ill-conditioned subscriber telephone lines. A team based in Antwerp, Belgium began development of the product in 1993. The combination of ADSL technology, innovative signal processing, cutting-edge silicon integration, and a revolutionary architecture brought affordable broadband Internet to nearly one billion people worldwide.
    • Agrate Brianza, Italy: Integrated circuits for satellite digital radio, 1996–1997
      Dedication ceremony: 24 June 2025 – Italy Section
      In 1996-1997, STMicroelectronics developed three low-power integrated circuits (ICs) essential for satellite digital radio reception: a frequency demodulator, a baseband processor, and a compressed audio decoder. Their use in digital radio satellite receivers adopted by Worldspace and Sirius XM Radio provided inexpensive educational and entertainment services in Africa, India, and the United States, and addressed a United Nations humanitarian call for inexpensive radio service to less-developed countries.
    • Szczecin, Poland – Zielona Góra, Poland – Frankfurt am Main, Germany:
      Long distance electric power transmission using three-phase alternating current, 1891
      Dedication ceremonies:
      – 9 June 2025 – IEEE Poland Section
      – 10 June 2025 – IEEE Poland Section
      – 12 June 2025 – IEEE Germany Section
      The world’s first long distance (175km), high voltage (15kV), highly efficient (75%) electric power transmission of 300 horsepower using three-phase alternating current (AC) was demonstrated at the 1891 International Electrotechnical Exhibition by Oskar von Miller, German-Bavarian consultant; Michael Dolivo-Dobrowolsky, Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG), Germany; and Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown, Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO), Switzerland. This Lauffen-to-Frankfurt demonstration directly influenced the eventual worldwide dominance of electric power transmission using three-phase AC systems.

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  • HISTELCON 2025, Knowing the past for preparing the future: History of technology for meaningful goals in the age of AI, took place in Bonn, Germany, 30 September – 2 October 2025.

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  • Proceedings of HISTELCON
    The proceedings of HISTELCON 1 through 7, available at IEEE Xplore, are now freely accessible for everyone without any payment; see also the HISTELCON entry on ETHW.

    1. Paris, France, 11–12 September 2008
    2. Madrid, Spain, 3–5 November 2010
    3. Pavia, Italy, 5–7 September 2012
    4. Tel Aviv, Israel, 16–21 August 2015, held jointly with the 42nd annual meeting of ICOHTEC, the International Committee for the History of Technology: History of High-Technologies and Their Socio-Cultural Contexts
    5. Kobe, Japan, 7–8 August 2017, together with IEEE Region 10
    6. Glasgow, United Kingdom, 18–19 September 2019
    7. Moscow, Russia, 10–12 November 2021
    8. Florence, Italy, 7–9 September 2023 (not yet freely accessible)
    9. Bonn, Germany, 30 September – 2 October 2025 (not yet freely accessible)

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  • Minutes of the IEEE Region 8 Committee meetings
    With the exception of four Region 8 Committee meetings – in Geneva (7 September 1965), Leuven (16 September 1966), Tel Aviv (24 October 1968), and Dubrovnik (25–26 October 1974) – we have (scanned) versions of all meeting minutes; and of the above-mentioned meetings in Leuven and Tel Aviv, we have the agendas. The (scanned) versions have been collected in five pdf files, which are available for download:
    1962–1970 (.pdf), 1971–1983 (.pdf), 1984–1993 (.pdf), 1994–2009 (.pdf), and 2010–2022 (.pdf).

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  • Old issues of IEEE Region 8 News
    Digital versions of IEEE Region 8 News from 2002 onward can be found in the Region 8 News archive of back issues. All older issues of IEEE Region 8 News and its predecessors — IEEE Region 8 newsletter (1967–1986; issues 1–76) and IEEE Region EIGHT News (1987–1989; issues 77–85) — have now been scanned: 1092 pages with a total size of about 0.7 GB. Note that volume numbers were introduced in Region 8 News in 1998 with the August issue (Volume 1, Number 1); until then, the numbering was consecutively from 1 till 122.
    The scanned versions can be downloaded by clicking on the links in the table that can be found here. In addition to news about the IEEE and the activities that took place on the Region level, these old issues contain lots of information about our Sections and may thus form a valuable source of information, especially for those Sections who want to fill the gaps in their history. To help Sections, an index has been created to direct Section leaders to the relevant pages in the issues 1–122 (December 1967 – May 1998) where news about their Section can be found.

IEEE Milestones

Engineering and Technology History Wiki

Region 8 history book

  • The book A short history of IRE Region 9 / IEEE Region 8 (.pdf) presents a history of IEEE Region 8 spanning its origins from the IRE Region in Europe, through the IRE/AIEE merger forming the IEEE and subsequently to the present day Region 8 consisting of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
    Note that if you click on the link above and open the Document Outline in the left-hand side bar, you can immediately jump to any section of the book and easily navigate through it.
  • More information about the history of Region 8 can be found on ieeer8.org/history/

Documents archive

IEEE History Center – a selection of additional weblinks