IEEE Region 7 (Canada) History

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Link to Region 7

History of IEEE Canada 

The early milestones of the AIEE/IRE/IEEE history in Canada include:
(please see below for explanations of mnemonics used)

• 1884 - AIEE formed in Philadelphia by 25 electrical experts including Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.
• 1887 - Canadian Society of Civil (non-military) Engineers (CSCE) formed
• 1903 - AIEE Toronto Section formed on September 30 at the Engineers Club in Toronto
• 1912 - IRE formed by merging the Society of Wireless Telegraph Engineers (initiated in Boston in 1907) and the Wireless Institute (initiated in New York in 1909)
• 1912 - CSCE becomes the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC)
• 1921 - AIEE District 10 (Canada) formed on August 1
• 1925 - IRE Canadian Section formed at Canadian General Electric in Toronto in October
• 1944 - Ralph Hackbush becomes first Canadian to be IRE Vice-President
• 1957 - John Henderson becomes first Canadian to be IRE President
• 1963 - IEEE Region 7 created out of AIEE District 10 (Canada) and IRE Region 8 (Canada) during the merger of AIEE and IRE
• 1972 - Bob Tanner becomes first Canadian to be IEEE President
• 1976 - CSEE formed
• 1990 - CSEE renamed as CSECE
• 1994 - IEEE Region 7 and CSECE merge to form IEEE Canada

Acronyms used for Society Names

• AIEE - American Institute of Electrical Engineers
• EIC - Engineering Institute of Canada
• CSEE - Canadian Society for Electrical Engineering
• CSECE - Canadian Society for Electrical and Computer Engineering
• IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• IRE - Institute of Radio Engineers

A brochure outlining the history of IEEE Canada (below left), with focus on the history of past 25 years, was developed for release at Sections Congress 2008, held in Quebec City, PQ, Canada.  The PDF of this brochure can be found here.

Another detailed article outlining the history of IEEE Canada was published in the Fall 2009 issue of the IEEE Canadian Review. This article can be found here.

The monograph, Electricity, The Magic Medium (below right) has been made available.

• 2010 - The IEEE Region 7 Committee agreed to the formation of a Region 7 History Committee on 2 May 2010.

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Link to Region 7