A Short History of the IEEE Region 9: One Hundred Years of Electrical Engineering in Latin America

In Latin America, first recorded formal interest in the Activities and Publications of the AIEE (American Institute of Electrical Engineers) was in Mexico, in 1910. A Section was formed in that city in 1922. In 1939, the first IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers) Section outside North America was formed in Buenos Aires, followed by a few more in the 1950´s. After the formation of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), the Region 9 comprising Latin America and the Caribbean was formed in 1966; first regional director was Guillermo Andrews from Argentina. In this article we describe those early events and also detail the formation of Sections and Councils. Other topics explored include the publications of the region, its conferences and meetings, communications, student activities, IEEE award and recognitions recipients, etc.