Evolution of the IEEE Logo

The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers evolved from two separate societies, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), formed in 1884, and the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), established in 1912. The two groups ultimately realized that their general interests lay together and so in 1963 the AIEE and the IRE merged to form the IEEE. The IEEE emblem today is a culmination of the original society emblems.

The AIEE's first member badge was designed by a committee headed by Alexander Graham Bell in 1893. Its kiteshaped outline represented Benjamin Franklin's kite. Its periphery was marked by an actual coil of gold wire with midpoints spanned by a galvanometer complete with blued steel needle and covered by an amber disc. Thus, it depicted the Wheatstone bridge, the earliest observation of electrical phenomena by Thales, and the source of the word electricity.

In 1897 a new AIEE logo was developed. The main focus of its design was two linked circles that represented the relation of the electric and magnetic fields. In 1912 the IRE chose for its logo the triangle and arrows representing electrical and magnetic forces in the conventional "right hand rule" relationship.

Taken from the historical archives @ IEEE