Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (or IEEE for short) an international non-profit, professional organization for the advancement of technology related to electricity. It has the most members of any technical professional organization in the world, with more than 400,000 members in more than 160 countries. About 45% of IEEE's members live outside the 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).
The IRE concerned mostly radio engineering. The major interests of the AIEE were wire communications and light and electric power systems. As technology developing, the IRE and the AIEE became difficult to distinguish. And people who belong to both group were increasing gradually. After World War II, the leadership of both the IRE and the AIEE merged the organizations on January 1, 1963.
IEEE says its purpose is "scientific and educational, directed toward the advancement of the theory and practice of electrical, electronics, communications and computer engineering, as well as computer science, the allied branches of engineering and the related arts and sciences." In pursuing these goals, the IEEE serves a major publisher of scientific journals, provides learning opportunities within the engineering sciences, research, and technology and so on.
IEEE consists of 150 countries, 350,000 members, 39 societies, organized around specialized technical fields, with more than 300 local organizations that hold regular meetings. Famous presidents of IEEE and its founding organizations include Elihu Thomson, Alexander Graham Bell, Ernst Weber. In 2008 the president of IEEE was Lewis M. Terman.
IEEE produces 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, publishing well over 100 peer-reviewed journals. The content in these journals and from several hundred annual conferences are available in the IEEE's online digital library.
Standards and development process.
IEEE is one of the leading standards-making organizations in the world. The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) makes and maintains standards for the IEEE. IEEE standards affect a wide range of industries including: power and energy, biomedical and healthcare, Information Technology (IT), telecommunications, transportation, nanotechnology, information assurance, and many more. In 2005, IEEE had close to 900 active standards, with 500 standards under development. One of the more notable IEEE standards is the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN group of standards which includes the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networking standard (Wi-Fi).