Each year, the IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing program honors exceptional technical achievements that occurred at least 25 years ago. In 2023, 12 Milestones were dedicated globally, including:
Leading The Conversa
1820-1827
The Birth of Electrodynamics
Paris, France
Stimulated by experimental reports that an electric current could deflect a compass needle, André-Marie Ampère discovered the fundamental law of electrodynamics, the science of interactions between electric currents.
Paul Langevin demonstrated the feasibility of using piezoelectric quartz crystals to both transmit and receive pulses of ultrasound and thereby detect submerged submarines at ranges up to 1,300 meters. The system, later called sonar, was used successfully during World War II, and led to other applications including depth sounding and medical echography.
Researchers at the Communications Research Centre Canada were the first to observe photo-induced change of refractive index in glass optical fibers and demonstrate writing permanent refractive index gratings that act as very selective optical filters.
The Development of RenderMan® for Photorealistic Graphics
Emeryville, California, USA
RenderMan® software, developed at Lucasfilm and Pixar, revolutionized photorealistic rendering, significantly advancing the creation of 3D computer animation and visual effects.
In the Laboratory of Intelligent Machines and Bioinformation Systems, human brain signals controlled the movement of a physical object (a robot) for the first time worldwide, opening a new channel for communication between humans and machines.
