IAPR: The First 50 Years
Almost 50 years ago, the First International Joint Conference on Pattern Recognition was held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. We mark this key date as an early milestone in the founding of IAPR, which we will be celebrating over the next few years.
That first conference attracted over 300 attendees from 14 different countries, and we have grown substantially into today’s uniquely international IAPR with nearly 50 member societies from around the world, along with our important biennial ICPR conference, which regularly attracts thousands of researchers.
We are excited to introduce a special new logo to mark our 50th Anniversary. This wonderful design was produced by Carolyn Buckley, our new IAPR Newsletter Layout Editor. Looking ahead, the IAPR Ad Hoc 50th Anniversary Committee is discussing a range of activities to engage the international research community in celebration. Some will take place at upcoming ICPR conferences in 2024, 2026, and 2028, while others will make use of the newsletter and our website as ways of communicating and preserving important aspects of our history.
We need your help! If you have ideas, memories, or photos to share connected to IAPR, please let us know by sending an email to 50th@iapr.org. We are eager to collect materials we can digitize to not only preserve the history of IAPR, but to acknowledge the
contributions of the many individuals who helped to make IAPR what it is today. We can only accomplish this through community participation. We will cover costs associated with shipping and returning historic materials to their owners, and will gratefully
acknowledge all contributions on the IAPR website.
Watch this space for information about upcoming celebrations, and be sure to check out our history page.
~ Daniel Lopresti, IAPR Past President
Stay tuned for further details as we look forward to marking the 50th anniversaries of a number of important events in IAPR’s history:
February 25, 1972
First Meeting of the Committee for the “First International Conference on Pattern Recognition” (Warrenton, VA).
October 30 – November 1, 1973
First International Joint Conference on Pattern Recognition (Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC).
August 13-15, 1974
Second International Joint Conference on Pattern Recognition (Lyngby, Denmark).
October 1974 – May 1976
Drafting of the IAPR Constitution; adoption of the name “International Association for Pattern Recognition”.
November 8-10, 1976
Third International Joint Conference on Pattern Recognition (Coronado, CA); election and first meeting of first IAPR Executive Committee; plan to incorporate IAPR under the laws of New York as a tax-exempt non-profit professional organization.
November 1976 – December 1977
Drafting and adoption of the IAPR Bylaws.
January 1, 1978
Formal start date of IAPR.
November 7-10, 1978
Fourth International Joint Conference on Pattern Recognition (Kyoto, Japan)
November 7, 1978
First meeting of the IAPR Governing Board.
Read more – History of IAPR