The genesis of IRE [Institute of Radio Engineers]

By 1912 it became evident with the rapid advancement of the communications field that if a full measure of success were to be achieved in radio, each must share his knowledge with all; if advances were to be made, the efforts of all must have a common purpose and direction. It was to this end that The Institute of Radio Engineers was formed on May 13 of that year. Since earliest times man has sought to devise means by which he could communicate overlong distances. From the beginning, experimenters in electricity and magnetism were intrigued by the idea that their investigations might provide them with a solution to this problem. Their researches led them to experiment with the conductive properties of water, with wire, and with magnetic induction.