ISO's new home, a brand new environmentally friendly and energy efficient office  ISO is the world largest standards developing organization. Between 1947 and the present day, ISO has published more than 17500 International Standards, ranging from standards for activities such as agriculture and construction, through mechanical engineering, to medical devices, to the newest information technology developments.

 

Given the multi-sector scope of the organization, it would be hard to present a historical perspective summarizing the challenges, the passion, the outstanding achievements or, sometimes, the missed opportunities, in the large variety of sectors covered by ISO’s technical work.

 

We have therefore chosen to highlight the key markers in the history of the organization from a general perspective.

 

ISO's First Fifty years

 

 At the London conference in 1946, Geneva was elected by a majority of one vote as headquarters of ISO  "The essence of ISO's history is made up of the visions, aspirations, doubts, successes and failures of the people who, over the past fifty years, have created this rather remarkable organization."

 

From the foreword to Friendship Among Equals by Lawrence D. Eicher, former ISO Secretary-General (from 1986 until end of March 2002 when he passed away)

 

The book Friendship Among Equals published on the occasion of ISO's 50th anniversary in 1997, is a gathering of personal recollections of ISO's history from those who were deeply involved in shaping it during the first fifty years.