In 1983, with IEEE’s centennial approaching the next year, the Board of Directors approved a request from the IEEE History Committee to set up a “Milestones” program to recognize historical achievements in IEEE’s fields of interest. Modeled partly on the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) “Landmarks” programs, with which the History Committee had earlier collaborated, the History Committee created a process by which they would receive proposals and recommend IEEE Milestones to the IEEE Board of Directors, who would have final approval since it was an IEEE-wide program.
Technological History Remembered
IEEE Milestones commemorate “events” in technological history (discoveries, inventions, demonstrations, patents, publications) with the dedication of a bronze plaque with an inscription of up to 70 words at an appropriate site, but do not commemorate the place, the person, or the entity involved (though there may be a name mentioned in a citation when appropriate). The event must be at least 25 years old, involve an engineering or scientific advance, and have at least regional importance.
An IEEE member proposes Milestones, and an organizational unit must endorse them (originally these had to be Sections, but later the Program expanded to include any IEEE OU, as long as the Section agrees to host the plaque). The first Milestones were proposed and approved in 1984 and dedicated in 1985 (four earlier joint Landmarks with ASCE and ASME were grandfathered in as IEEE Milestones). The IEEE History Center staff administer the program on behalf of the History Committee.
At first, the program grew slowly. By the end of 1995, 10 years in, only 26 dedicated Milestones existed, and the Directive Shortwave Antenna in the Tokyo Section (the “Yagi Antenna”) was the only dedication that year. It was the first in Region 10. After the History Committee re-emphasized the program, it really took off. By the end of 2005, there were 65 dedicated Milestones, and by the end of 2015 there were 159. The first Milestone in Region 9, the last Region to be represented, was in 2012.
A Milestone for the Milestone Program
In June 2026, the 300th IEEE Milestone was dedicated. It is the Canadarm, the remote manipulator system developed in Toronto, Canada (Region 7) from 1975 to 1981, and deployed by the U.S. Space Shuttle program from 1981 onward. Many local and global IEEE volunteers gathered with local industry and political leaders to unveil the plaque, along with some of the engineers involved in developing the achievement.
Researching and proposing an IEEE Milestone could be an interesting activity for an IEEE Life Member Affinity Group. The IEEE Milestones website has information about the process, and you can direct inquiries to the History Center at ieee-history@ieee.org.
