Communications History: Looking Back on the Future

Every day, IEEE Communication Society (ComSoc) members and others make history in our communications field. Some are incremental, while others are monumental. ComSoc has established the Communications History standing committee to recognize past accomplishments and set the stage for future advancements. Its current chair, Dr. Doug Zuckerman, will share this month’s president’s column with us, focusing on the committee’s activities.

Doug Zuckerman, an IEEE Life Fellow, currently chairs the IEEE New Initiatives Committee and has been an active leader in ComSoc and across IEEE for many years. He was the IEEE Communications Society President and our Division’s IEEE Board Director. His BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees are from Columbia University (USA). His earlier work at Bell Labs (and successors) heavily influenced network management standards and implementation.

Introduction

The year 1952 marked the birth of our IEEE Communications Society. This is a singular bit of history, yet could we imagine if we had lost track? There would have been no 70th Anniversary celebration during our jubilee year 2022. What if all the major communications and ComSoc milestones had also been either lost or forgotten? As mentioned in the May 2023 President’s Page, “Capturing, curating and making easily available this rich history is essential to building and maintaining our professional community. It also helps set a foundation for the future.”

Thankfully, ComSoc has a standing committee on Communications History (comsoc.org/history). From the Society’s Bylaws, “This Committee is responsible for identifying, placing in electronic archives, and raising public awareness through all appropriate means of the most important facts, people, and achievements of communications history, as well as telecommunications milestones in general.” The rest of this article reviews the committee’s initiatives, highlights key examples, and looks back on the future.

Composition

Due to the wide range of activities envisioned for this committee, the committee has about a dozen members with the following roster:

Committee Roster

Chair | Doug Zuckerman (2024–2025)
Vice Chair | Kit August (2023–2025)

Voting Members
2024–2025 | Stephen Weinstein, Kit August, Doug Zuckerman
2024–2026 | Curtis Siller, Celia Desmond, Dave Michelson
2025–2027 | Shri Goyal, Mathini Sellathurai, Mehmet Ulema

Non-Voting Members
2025 | Martha Steenstrup
Staff | Cynthia Sikora

This team includes former ComSoc presidents, past Communications Magazine EiCs, three past History Committee chairs, the current IEEE History Committee chair, several Life Members, founders of some of the earliest ComSoc major conferences, and organizers of more recent ones. Last year, the ComSoc Board of Governors increased the number of voting members from three to nine, recognizing the committee’s expanded activities.

Looking Back and Forward

Three years ago, the President’s Page introduced a handful of new and existing initiatives that the committee would pursue going forward. Since then, we have filled in many of the blanks, thanks to our committee members’ dedication and hard work. In addition, we now have nearly a dozen history initiatives. The following looks back on that list, with past accomplishments, current status, and future plans:

• Communications History Book: Add events since the 60th anniversary edition (which also feeds into Interactive Communications History): The 70th anniversary edition should be widely available in mid-2025, thanks to editor Steve Weinstein and many others for contributing content from the previous decade.
• Interactive Communications History: Contribute to this project, which ComSoc’s Board of Governors has funded: The Interactive Guide is now available at https://www.comsoc.org/comsoc-history/ and will be updated as needed moving forward.
• IEEE Milestones: Identify and guide proposals for new communications milestones: Several new communications milestones have been proposed and are in various stages of the approval process by the IEEE History Committee. A highlight is the milestone associated with the antenna and electronics used by Nobel Laureates Arno Penzias and Bob Wilson of Bell Labs to discover the Big Bang theory of the universe. The Longley-Rice propagation model is currently being considered. In collaboration with the IEEE History Committee, other milestones are under consideration at various stages.
• Oral Histories: Conduct more Oral Histories: These are handled by the IEEE History Committee, with support from the IEEE History Center. To assure the highest quality, a rigorous process is followed by those who conduct such histories. This requires training, which the History Center offers to those interested in conducting such histories. ComSoc History Committee members have conducted several such histories for the past several years. To make it easier for others to do so, Policies & Procedures are being prepared to help identify oral history candidates and their interviewers. The ComSoc committee has also recorded less formal interviews on historically essential topics with colleagues.
• Conference History: Start with GLOBECOM/ICC history – including interviews: The GLOBECOM/ICC history is now available at https://gims.committees.comsoc.org/globecom-and-icc-history/. In addition, ICC 2024 in Denver uniquely depicted the ICC’s history in a staircase display at its conference. Also, ComSoc’s Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS) in Hawaii celebrated the 25th anniversary of the event, first held in Hawaii in 2000. The report from NOMS 2000 in the June 2000 issue of Communications Magazine shows interesting trends in operations and network management technology and the premier event series in this field.
• Presence at IEEE GLOBECOM and ICC: Organize and moderate history panels and have exhibit hall presence: Every ComSoc booth at GLOBECOM/ICC offers history materials and displays short videos. Staff members also interact with attendees and share their experiences.
• History Column in IEEE Communications Magazine: Do column, reprints, old ComMag synopses, Global Communications News (GCN) articles: The magazine has published monthly “look backs” at the Tables of Contents from issues 10 and 25 years ago. These have brought back memories of how technologies have evolved and the names of past colleagues and institutions. The Global Communications News has also published several historical articles, including an interview with me and reports on local history celebrations of milestones. Of special note are Parts 1 and 2 of an extensive ham radio history series written by Ted Rappaport; stay tuned for Part 3!
• Update Web Presence: Participate in ComSoc-wide website update activity relevant to history activities: Based on feedback from the History Committee, the website has been updated with improved navigation and updated content.
• Virtual Museum: Provide an AR/VR museum experience: This is being considered for the future.
• Memorializations: Establish and maintain a process for memorializing recently deceased colleagues, e.g., through ComSoc’s “In Memoriam” page and Society News articles. The process has been successful, though it is sad when we learn of deceased friends and colleagues.
• Collaboration and Engagement: Recognize “Women in Communications History”: In line with IEEE strategy and policy, we have strived for broad participation in our committee membership and have been especially cognizant of contributions associated with women (see https://me.usembassy.gov/hedy-lamarr-1914-2000-hollywood-icon-and-the-mother-of-wi-fi/).
• Participation in Significant Anniversaries: Participate in important technology or organizational anniversaries: ComSoc has, of course, celebrated its major anniversaries (e.g., jubilee year anniversary). In addition, we have been asked to participate in other ones. For example, in collaboration with the IEEE History Committee, there was a 100th Anniversary celebration of Bell Labs (led by Nokia Bell Labs) at ICC 2025 in Montreal. Also, as part of its 50th Anniversary this year, OFC (Optical Fiber Communications and Networking Conference) had a special interactive session recapping exceptional contributors from the past (e.g., Claude Shannon). It also allowed the audience to share memories of their careers from decades ago.

In addition to the updated initiatives listed above, the committee has taken on the following impactful activities:

• Community Outreach and STEM: Organize and participate in public events and support STEM activities: A prime example is the “Day at the Museum” event that our Vice Chair, Kit August, organized at AT&T Labs in Middletown, NJ, this May. This provided a history backdrop for a) celebrating the new IEEE milestone on “Project Echo, Telstar and Discovery of Cosmic Background Radiation, 1959–1965,” b) a docent-led tour of the AT&T Labs” communications museum, c) STEM interactions with local high school studentsand d) valuable networking with the local IEEE and HKN section and chapter members who helped make this multi-facet event happen. Present were dignitaries from both past and present, such as Mo Iwama (his Bell Labs organization did Telstar), and Peter Vetter (Nokia Bell Labs Core Research’s president).
• Engineering and Technology History Wiki: Contribute to ComSoc and communications technology history on the Engineering and Technology History Wiki (ETHW) (see https://ethw.org/IEEE_Communications_Society_History): Committee members have been updating ETHW and working towards making it easier to find our historic events.

Thanks to all the volunteers and staff who have actively contributed to the committee’s activities, especially to our history committee’s Vice Chair, Kit August, and lead staff support, Cyn Sikora.

Conclusion

Others on the History Committee and I find “history” interesting, especially when we see how it moved from the future to the present to the past. Looking at “the past” and considering that it was “the future” at some time can generate meaningful insights. In looking for such history at comsoc.org, I came across a history of past Board of Governors members, dating back to 1964. See https://www.comsoc.org/about/board-governors/past-board-governors. This reminded me of conversations with Roberto deMarca and Celia Desmond in the late 1990s aimed at creating the first “org chart” with multiple Vice Presidents, and appointed Directors reporting to them. Before then, all we had was a VP of technical activities and several directors (including a director of publications who handled both “magazines” and “journals”). Looking at the list (which omits some of the earlier years), it’s apparent how much ComSoc has grown over the years! Let’s continue making history in our communications field, with the History Committee standing by to help!