1848:
Revolution. Establishment of the Société Centrale des Ingénieurs Civils 4th March 1848. The first President was Eugène Flachat. A student of George Stephenson, he was responsible for the first French railway lines. This association, renamed Société des Ingénieurs Civils de France, was officially recognised on 22nd December 1860. Gustav Eiffel was President in 1889.
1919:
The British Section of what is now IESF was founded on 27th June by members of the British Army returning from the war and who wished to keep up links with their wartime colleagues in France. The Section became known as ‘The French Civils’ or ‘The Société’ (ICF).
1929:
Fédération des Association et Sociétés Français d’Ingénieurs Diplômes (FASID) was formed – a friendly association of past engineering students.
1948:
Union des Associations et Sociétés Industrielles Françaises (UASIF) – this brought together French learned societies.
1957:
Conseil National des Ingénieurs Français (CNIF) – represented French engineers as a whole.
1978:
UASIF amalgamated with ICF to become the Société des Ingénieurs et Scientifiques de France (ISF).
1992:
FASFID, CNIF and ISF, now the three greatest engineering organisations in France, amalgamated to form: Conseil National des Ingénieurs et des Scientifiques de France. The CNISF became the French Member of FEANI (Fédération Européenne des Association Nationales d’Ingénieurs) and the WFEO (World Federation of Engineers Organisations) and has a membership of more than 600,000 engineers and scientists.
2011:
Adoption of new more ‘commercial’ title and logo - Ingénieurs et Scientifiques de France (IESF).