National-International Standards Activity, Organizations and Participants

In the 19th century a relatively small group of scientists founded independently what was to become the electrical engineering profession. Because of the relatively small number and also because of the very special area of science in which they worked, these men soon became acquainted primarily through their dedication to learning. The resulting friendly relationships, which disregarded national barriers, established an international understanding which was later to become the basis for the standardization activity of today. The number of people entering this field soon made the commitment to paper of the basic understandings imperative. While the practical problems of committing an agreement to paper seem at times to be insurmountable, one needs only to view the quantity of people and of products to get a feeling for the chaos that would have existed if this effort had not been initiated.