1996 marks not only the 50th Anniversary of the unveiling of the ENIAC system at the University of Pennsylvania, but also the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of the Committee on Large-Scale Computing of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE). Five years later, the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) formed its Professional Group on Electronic Computers. The AIEE and the IRE merged in 1963 to become the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The respective committee and group of the predecessor organizations combined to form the modern IEEE Computer Society. As all of us individually celebrate the anniversaries of several different events in our lives including birthdate, graduation date, and so on, so the Computer Society celebrates one of its several anniversaries in 1996. As a small part of that celebration Computer will publish a page entitled "looking.back" each month in which we recognize the significant events of computer history that occurred in that month and the pioneers of computing. The Pioneer Award is presented annually to as many as four living recipients whose vision resulted in the creation and continued vitality of the electronic computer industry.

During 1996 the Society will also celebrate the Anniversary year with other events. Throughout the year a selected set of Computer Society sponsored conferences, starting at CompCon in February 1996, will include a special session on the history of computing and the society. In November 1996 the year will culminate with a special event in conjunction with the Supercomputing Conference '95. In the meantime we will relate the history of computing and the Computer Society month by month in "looking.back".

Each month's column will recognize the anniversaries of events that occured in the month, and some computer pioneers (especially including those whose have been awarded the Computer Society Pioneer Award).