THE IEEE EMBLEM, IEEE Student Journal, March 1963, Page 48

The emblem of IEEE will soon make its appearance on college campuses throughout the world as the green and gold badge of Student Members. It is a new emblem, but it embodies a venerable tradition. Its evolution, illustrated above, began nearly 80 years ago. Representing an organization formed by the consolidation of AIEE and IRE, the emblem of IEEE derives its design from the insignia of the two constituents. However, it is not a mere compound of these two components. Rather, it continues the trend toward an emphasis of basic concepts characteristic not only of the evolution of the emblems of the constituent organizations, but of the whole electrical engineering education and practice. In this, it also conforms to the best modern design and traditional heraldry. Both the emblems of IRE and AIEE had as a central motif the association of electricity and magnetism, perhaps the most fundamental concept lending itself to graphical representation. In one case, two arrows represent current and magneto motive force. In the other, linked circles suggest the relation of the electric and magnetic fields. In IEEE, as in its two predecessor organizations, the choice of an emblem was the subject of much careful consideration. AIEE was founded in 1884. Its first member badge, pictured here, was adopted in 1893 after three years of discussion during which various designs were offered by a committee headed by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, President of AIEE in 1891-1892. Its outline represented Franklin's kite. Its periphery was marked by an actual coil of gold wire with mid-points spanned by a galvanometer complete with blued steel needle and covered by an amber disc. Thus, it was sought to embody the Wheatstone bridge, the earliest observation of electrical phenomena by Thales, and the source of the word electricity (Amber is elektron in Greek). For good measure, Ohm's law and the letters AIEE were imprinted in gold on the enamel base supporting this remarkable condensation of the history of electrical science. It was abandoned after four years.

In 1897, AIEE adopted the emblem which served essentially unchanged until the merger of 1963. Here the central theme is the linked circles representing the relation of the electric and magnetic fields. The symmetrical outline approximates a hypocycloid of four cusps. It may still suggest a kite and a bridge, but in any event it provides for a balanced distribution of the four initials of the society. The IRE, founded in 1912, as a consolidation of The Society of Wireless Telegraph Engineers and The Wireless Institute, chose the now familiar triangle and arrows representing electrical and magnetic forces in the conventional "right-hand rule" relationship. In choosing as its emblem this fundamental concept, IRE rejected the designs of its predecessor organizations, SWTE and TWI, both of which had used as their insignia the Hertz oscillator and receiver loop. However currently important or historically significant, specific techniques or equipment were wisely judged inadequate symbols for a dynamic organization. The triangular outline of the IRE emblem also provided for a balanced display of three initials.
The IEEE badge then, while new, evolved rationally from its predecessors and retains in its outline and central device readily recognizable features of each. It was proportioned and designed by competent artists. It can be worn with pride in its appearance as well as in the organization it represents. Grades of membership are designated by color. The Student Member badge has a green field with border and central figure of yellow gold. The Affiliate is maroon; Member light blue; Senior Member dark blue. The Fellow badge is yellow gold throughout except for the two arrows which are white gold. New IEEE Student Members will receive the badge upon election. Others may purchase it for $1.00 * . The emblem of IEEE is protected by registration with the U.S. Government and may be used only by members and in connection with the business of IEEE.
*NOTE : This is no longer applicable, this article was written in 1963.

A Brief History of IEEE

IEEE, an association dedicated to the fostering of technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity, is the world’s largest technical professional society. It is designed to serve professionals involved in all aspects of the electrical, electronic and computing fields and related areas of science and technology that underlie modern civilization. IEEE’s roots, however, go back to 1884 when electricity was just beginning to become a major force in society. There was one major established electrical industry, the telegraph, which—beginning in the 1840s—had come to connect the world with a communications system faster than the speed of transportation. A second major area had only barely gotten underway—electric power and light, originating in Thomas Edison’s inventions and his pioneering Pearl Street Station in New York.

Foundation of the AIEE

In the spring of 1884, a small group of individuals in the electrical professions met in New York. They formed a new organization to support professionals in their nascent field and to aid them in their efforts to apply innovation for the betterment of humanity—the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, or AIEE for short. That October the AIEE held its first technical meeting in Philadelphia. Many early leaders, such as founding President Norvin Green of Western Union, came from telegraphy. Others, such as Thomas Edison, came from power, while Alexander Graham Bell represented the newer telephone industry. As electric power spread rapidly across the land—enhanced by innovations such as Nikola Tesla’s AC Induction Motor, long distance AC transmission and large-scale power plants, and commercialized by industries such as Westinghouse and General Electric—the AIEE became increasingly focused on electrical power and its ability to change people’s lives through the unprecedented products and services it could deliver. There was a secondary focus on wired communication, both the telegraph and the telephone. Through technical meetings, publications, and promotion of standards, the AIEE led the growth of the electrical engineering profession, while through local sections and student branches, it brought its benefits to engineers in widespread places.

Foundation of the IRE

A new industry arose beginning with Guglielmo Marconi’s wireless telegraphy experiments at the turn of the century. What was originally called “wireless” became radio with the electrical amplification possibilities inherent in the vacuum tubes which evolved from John Fleming’s diode and Lee de Forest’s triode. With the new industry came a new society in 1912, the Institute of Radio Engineers. The IRE was modeled on the AIEE, but was devoted to radio, and then increasingly to electronics. It, too, furthered its profession by linking its members through publications, standards and conferences, and encouraging them to advance their industries by promoting innovation and excellence in the emerging new products and services.

The Societies Converge and Merge

Through the help of leadership from the two societies, and with the applications of its members’ innovations to industry, electricity wove its way—decade by decade—more deeply into every corner of life—television, radar, transistors, computers. Increasingly, the interests of the societies overlapped. Membership in both societies grew, but beginning in the 1940s, the IRE grew faster and in 1957 became the larger group. On 1 January 1963, The AIEE and the IRE merged to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE. At its formation, the IEEE had 150,000 members, 140,000 of whom were in the United States.

Growth and Globalization

Over the decades that followed, with IEEE’s continued leadership, the societal roles of the technologies under its aegis continued to spread across the world, and reach into more and more areas of people’s lives. The professional groups and technical boards of the predecessor institutions evolved into IEEE Societies. By the early 21st Century, IEEE served its members and their interests with 38 societies; 130 journals, transactions and magazines; more 300 conferences annually; and 900 active standards. Since that time, computers evolved from massive mainframes to desktop appliances to portable devices, all part of a global network connected by satellites and then by fiber optics. IEEE’s fields of interest expanded well beyond electrical/electronic engineering and computing into areas such as micro- and nanotechnology, ultrasonics, bioengineering, robotics, electronic materials, and many others. Electronics became ubiquitous—from jet cockpits to industrial robots to medical imaging. As technologies and the industries that developed them increasingly transcended national boundaries, IEEE kept pace, becoming a truly global institution which used the innovations of the practitioners it represented in order to enhance its own excellence in delivering products and services to members, industries, and the public at large. Publications and educational programs were delivered online, as were member services such as renewal and elections. By 2008, IEEE had 375,000 members in 160 countries, with 43 percent outside of the country where it was founded a century and a quarter before. Through its worldwide network of geographical units, publications, web services, and conferences, IEEE remains the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology.

IEEE today.

For more information on the first one hundred years you may view publications.