Early History of the Institute of Measurement and Control

In 1943 a meeting of over 100 professionals took place to discuss the need to create a society that had a specific focus on Instrumentation. Plans to form such a society had actually begun much earlier but were delayed by the onset of WW2.

A small committee was elected and tasked with further investigation. Later that year the Committee passed a formal motion to set up the Instrumentation Society. In 1944 the first President Sir George Paget Thomson was chosen. Sir George was the winner of the 1937 Nobel prize for physics, and was the Deputy Chairman of the Radio Board and Scientific Adviser to the Air Ministry

In May 1944 the first official meeting of the new Society of Instrument Technology was held. It was agreed the Society existed for the advancement of instrument technology by “the dissemination and coordination of information relating to the design, application and maintenance of instruments.” It also aimed to promote and encourage technical education to those who wished to enter or who were already in the industry. In 1945 the first technical meeting of the society was held with over 200 attendees. The proceedings of this meeting took some time to be published due to the fact paper rationing was still in effect. The society would publish its first journal in 1947.

In 1946 Memorandum and Articles of Association were approved. The Society continued for the next few decades operating primarily as a learned society which also facilitated networking for its membership. Over time there was a feeling that the Society should also become a professional examining and qualifying body, and in 1968 the Society changed its name to the Institute of Measurement and Control, was granted an official coat of arms and became a registered charity.

In 1975 the Institute gained its Royal Charter from the privy council, and in 1988 the Institute received Recognition from the Engineering Council (established 1981) and was able to confer the titles of CEng, IEng, EngTech, and EurIng on appropriately qualified members, which it still does today.