The '''Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers''' or '''IEEE''' (pronounced as eye-triple-ee) is an international [[non-profit]], [[professional body|professional organization]] for the advancement of technology related to electricity. It is the largest technical professional organization in the world (in number of members), with more than 360,000 members in around 175 countries (as of [[2005]]).
IEEE's Constitution defines the purposes of the organization as "scientific and educational, directed toward the advancement of the theory and practice of [[Electrical engineering|electrical, electronics,]] [[telecommunication|communications]] and [[computer engineering]], as well as [[computer science]], the allied branches of engineering and the related [[art]]s and [[science]]s." In pursuing these goals, the IEEE serves as a major publisher of [[scientific journal]]s and a [[conference]]s organizer. It is also a leading [[Standards organizations|developer of industrial standards]] in a broad range of disciplines, including [[electric power]] and [[energy]], [[health science|biomedical technology and healthcare]], [[information technology]], [[information security|information assurance]], telecommunications, consumer electronics, transportation, aerospace, and [[nanotechnology]]. IEEE develops and participates in educational activities such as [[School accreditation|accreditation]] of electrical engineering programs in institutes of higher learning.
IEEE produces 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, and has developed more than 900 active industry standards. It also sponsors or cosponsors more than 300 international technical conferences each year. The IEEE consists of 37 societies, organized around specialized technical fields, with more than 300 local organizations that hold regular meetings. The IEEE publishes an extensive range of peer-reviewed journals, and is a major international standards body (nearly 900 active standards with 700 under development).
Most IEEE members are electrical engineers, computer engineers, and computer scientists, but the organization's wide scope of interests has attracted engineers in other disciplines (e.g., [[Mechanical engineering|mechanical]] and [[Civil engineering|civil]],) as well as [[biologist]]s, [[physics|physicists]], and [[mathematics|mathematicians]].
The IEEE is incorporated in the State of [[New York]], [[United States]]. It was formed in [[1963]] by the merger of the [[Institute of Radio Engineers]] (IRE, founded [[1912]]) and the [[American Institute of Electrical Engineers]] (AIEE, founded [[1884]]). It has a dual complementary regional and technical structure - with organizational units based on geography (e.g., the IEEE [[Philadelphia]] Section) and technical focus (e.g., the [[IEEE Computer Society]]). It manages a separate organizational unit (IEEE-USA) which recommends policies and implements programs specifically intended to benefit the members, the profession and the public in the United States.
Notable Presidents of IEEE and its founding organizations include [[Elihu Thomson]] (AIEE, [[1889]]-[[1890]]), [[Alexander Graham Bell]] (AIEE, [[1891]]-[[1892]]), [[Charles Proteus Steinmetz]] (AIEE, [[1901]]-[[1902]]), [[Lee De Forest]] (IRE, [[1930]]), Frederick E. Terman (IRE, [[1941]]), William R. Hewlett (IRE, [[1954]]), Ernst Weber (IRE, [[1959]]; IEEE, 1963), and [[Ivan Getting]] (IEEE, [[1978]]).
==History==
The major interests of the AIEE were wire communications ([[telegraph]] and [[telephony]]) and light and power systems. The IRE concerned mostly [[radio]] engineering, and was formed from two smaller organizations, the Society of Wireless and Telegraph Engineers and the Wireless Institute. With the rise of [[electronics]] in the 1930s, electronics engineers usually became members of the IRE, but the applications of electron tube technology became so extensive that the technical boundaries differentiating the IRE and the AIEE became difficult to distinguish. After World War II, the two organizations became increasingly competitive, and in 1961, the leadership of both the IRE and the AIEE resolved to consolidate the two organizations. The two organizations formally merged as the IEEE on January 1, 1963.
== Notable IEEE committees and formats ==
* [[IEEE 754]] [[floating point]] arithmetic specifications
* [[IEEE 802]] [[LAN]]/[[metropolitan area network|MAN]]
* [[IEEE 802.11]] Wireless Networking
* [[IEEE 829]] Software Test Documentation
* [[IEEE 896]] Futurebus
* [[IEEE 1003]] [[POSIX]]
* [[IEEE 1076]] [[VHDL]] [[VHSIC]] [[Hardware Description Language]]
* [[JTAG|IEEE 1149.1]] [[JTAG]]
* [[IEEE 1275]] [[Open Firmware]]
* [[IEEE 1284]] [[Parallel port]]
* [[IEEE P1363]] [[Public key cryptography]]
* [[IEEE 1394]] Serial Bus ("[[FireWire]]")
* [[IEEE 12207]] [[Information Technology]]
== See also ==
* [[IEEE Computer Society]]
* [[IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society]]
* [[IEE|Institute of Electrical Engineers]] (a similar organization in the [[United Kingdom|UK]]
== Further reading ==
* [http://www.ieee.org/ IEEE website]
* [http://info.computer.org/standards/standesc.htm Complete list of IEEE standards]
* [http://www.ieee.org/organizations/history_center/oral_histories/oh_merger_menu.html History of the AIEE-IRE merger]
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[[pt:Instituto de Engenharia Elétrica e Eletrônica]]
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