History

At that conference 30 participants signed a declaration in which the need to create an international organization of automatic control was clearly defined. The signatories pledged to promote the formation of national organizations, if not already existing at that time.

At the end of the Heidelberg Conference a Provisional Committee was established under the chairmanship of Victor Broida (France) to draft a constitution for the planned International Federation of Automatic Control.

On September 12, 1957, the First General Assembly convened at the constituent meeting in Paris. Delegates from 18 countries representing their national organizations assembled at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers under the chairmanship of Victor Broida. They voted on the Constitution and By-Laws; they elected the first President, Harold Chestnut, as well as the members of the Executive Council; and they appointed committee chairmen.

IFAC has had seventeen Presidents:

• 1957-1958 Harold Chestnut (US)
• 1958-1960 Aleksander M. Letov (SU)
• 1960-1963 Eduard Gerecke (CH)
• 1963-1966 John F. Coales (UK)
• 1966-1969 Pawel J. Nowacki (PL)
• 1969-1972 Victor Broida (FR)
• 1972-1975 John C. Lozier (US)
• 1975-1978 Uolevi A. Luoto (FI)
• 1978-1981 Yoshikazu Sawaragi (JP)
• 1981-1984 Tibor Vamos (HU)
• 1984-1987 Manfred Thoma (DE)
• 1987-1990 Boris Tamm (SU)
• 1990-1993 Brian D.O. Anderson (AU)
• 1993-1996 Stephen J. Kahne (US)
• 1996-1999 Yong-Zai Lu (CN)
• 1999–2002 Pedro Albertos (ES)
• 2002-2005 Vladimir Kucera (CZ)
• 2005-2008 Wook Hyun Kwon (KR)
  

The 19th President, Alberto Isidori (Italy) was elected by the General Assembly convening in Seoul, Korea on July 7, 2008, for the 2008-2011 term of office. The IFAC Secretariat has a permanent home. By invitation of the Austrian Government it has been situated in Laxenburg near Vienna (Austria), since 1978.