BEFORE SEP WAS ESTABLISHED

First associations of Polish electrical engineers originated on territories of the three sectors of partitioned Poland (Warsaw, Lvov, Cracow, Coal basin, Poznan, Lodz).

Initially electrical engineers organized themselves in general technical organizations. Beginning 1899, organizations uniting electrical engineers only emerged.

First such an organization was formed in Warsaw on 27 March 1899 under the name of ?Electro-technical Delegation?. It was a part of the 1st Techno-Industrial Section of Warsaw Branch for Supporting the Russian Industry and Trade. The initiator of the Electro-technical Delegation and its chairman was Mr. Kazimierz Obrebowicz.

On the days of 1st to 3rd October 1903, the first Congress of Electrical Engineers in Poland took place. In 1904 the Electro-technical Delegation was transformed into the Electro-technicians? Circle, which in 1907 joined the Association of Technicians.

First association of electricians in Lvov was the Electro-technical Section active in 1901 as attached to Politechnical Society. The initiator of the Section was Mr. Jozef Tomicki. The Section greatly contributed to the creation of Polish language electrical terminology. In 1908 the Electro-technical Section was formally established as an independent organization. Its chairman became Mr. Kazimierz Drewnowski.

The organizational activity of electrical engineers in Cracow begun as a part of Cracow Technical Society existing from 1877 year.

The beginnings of its activity coincided with the period of construction of the city electrical power stations and lasted till 1912.

In the same year in Cracow a congress of electricians took place which found it necessary to establish one Association of Polish Electrical Engineers for the whole of Poland.

In 1914 formal organization of the Electrical Section of the Cracow Technical Society took place.

In Dabrowa Coal basin the above mentioned Warsaw Branch for Supporting the Russian Industry and Trade organized in 1886 a vivid Mining and Steel Industry Section.

In 1911 a Circle of Electro-technicians was established, which has not registered with the authorities. It was involved in creating electrical terminology for the Polish language, training and organizational issues. The Circle initiated on 24th May1913 the Association of Technicians, which was registered as Circle of Electro-technicians, chaired by Mr. Kazimierz Gayczak.

In Poznan an organization uniting solely electrical engineers of Polish nationality was only established in late October 1918, however already in 1906 electricians of Polish nationality became active in the so called Department of Biologists and Technicians and in the Society of Friends of Sciences. In 1911 at the Society of Friends of Sciences a division took place, separating the Technical Department and the Nature Department. Activity of electricians concentrated only in the Technical Department, as well as in the Society of Polish Technicians established in the same year. On 4th December 1918 as a part of the a/m Society a Department of Electro-technicians was created.

At first electricians from the city of Lodz were organized as a part of Lodz Technical Section of the Warsaw Branch of the Society for Supporting the Russian Industry and Trade. Taking advantage of the political situation, they established a separate Lodz Association of Technicians in 1909. On 28th October 1918 a Circle of Electro-technicians was created at this Association of Technicians.

FOUNDING CONGRESS

Three events had direct impact on the establishment of the Society of Polish Electro-technicians, and namely:

- the resolution taken at the congress of electricians of Cracow on 12th to 16th September 1912, stressing the necessity of calling to life a common organization of electricians for the entire Poland;

- the meeting of managers of Little Poland power stations which on 4th of January 1919 confirmed the necessity of establishing an overall Polish professional organization of electricians;

- the resolution on the time of the Founding Congress taken on 7th April 1919 by participants to a meeting of the Circle of Electro-technicians in Warsaw.

At the congress, which took place on 7th to 9th June 1919 in Warsaw, a resolution was taken to establish the Association of Polish Electro-technicians, which was joined by the electricians? circles of Warsaw, Lwow, Cracow and Lodz as founders.

Hence the date of 9th June 1919 opens the history of SEP.

Professor Mieczysław Pożaryski was elected as 1st chairman of SEP. A Temporary Main Board was formed by Messrs. Kazimierz Drewnowski, Ksawery Gnoinski, Roman Podoski, Kazimierz Szpotański, Józef Tomicki, Gabriel Sokolnicki and Stanisław Bieliński.

As a result of union in 1928 of the Society of Polish Electro-technicians with the Society of Polish Radio-technicians, on 5th January 1929 the Government Commissary for the city of Warsaw approved new Statutes for SEP and the change of its name to the ?Association of Polish Electrical Engineers?. In the year 1939 another merger with the Association of Polish Telecommunication Engineers took place, this time without changing the name. With this, the process of integration of electricians in one ASSOCIATION OF POLISH ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS was completed.

The Association of Polish Electrical Engineers, further termed SEP, is a creative kind of organization of scientific-technical character, a voluntary association of electricians of all specialties and people whose professional activity is connected with vastly understood electrical engineering as well as legal persons interested in the activity of SEP.

SEP  uninterruptedly from year 1919:

• initiates and supports scientific activity in Poland in the field of electrical engineering in close link with progress taking place in the world technology;
• contributes to development of all fields of electrical engineering in Poland;
• takes care for the upgrading of qualifications of electricians, their technical culture, professional ethics and popularizes the knowledge of electrical engineering in the society;
• integrates professionally and socially electrical engineers and gives support to its members;
• takes care of studying youth and young technical cadres beginning their professional work, funds scientific scholarships;
• organizes international, national and regional conferences, symposia and forums devoted to most actual problems of electrical engineering as well as competitions, exhibitions and technical-cum-tourist excursions;
• cooperates with foreign engineers? organizations, securing access for Polish specialists to advanced information on development of electrical engineering and to win the title European Engineer, being a member of a Convention of National Societies of Electrical Engineers of Europe EUREL;
• prepares opinions pertaining to programs, legal acts and other documents elaborated by the administrative authorities and other organizations;
• presents to authorities, institutions and interested organizations own views regarding principal problems and solutions in the field of electrical engineering;
• influences the scope and content of educational programs in the field of electrical engineering;
• organizes training and self-improvement courses for electricians, and conducts skill-upgrading examinations;
• participates in establishing standards and technical regulations, establishes pre-standards, standards and standardization commentaries of SEP;
• conducts quality tests of various types of equipment and electrical products;
• grants recommendations and rights to use the sign of SEP recommendation to firms from the field of electrical industry producing high quality products or rendering services at an appropriate high quality level;
• publishes periodicals of the trade, exercises the policy of shaping publication trends, as well as issues books and other materials designated for the circles of electricians? professionals;
• carries out commercial activity in the filed of electrics.

SEP has its branches in all voivodship capital cities and several other urban agglomerations.

The branches unite field circles, circles at the industrial plants and circles of members of one speciality. Members of SEP belong to selected by themselves one or few specialist's sections.

Several scientific-technical committees act within SEP, gathering outstanding scientists and practitioners in the selected field of electrical engineering. Some of them called 'Polish Committees', represent SEP in international organizations.

More than ten scientific-technical sections, having their equivalents in branches of SEP, group members of SEP from the same field of electrical engineering or similar interests. Sections as well as committees conduct activities connected with the development of their areas of electrical engineering.

Regular members of SEP can be engineers, technicians and students, meeting the criteria of SEP status.

Regular members of SEP can:

• take part in events organized by SEP at the privileged terms,
• take advantage of technical information available with SEP,
• avail themselves of the Society's assistance in their professional activity,
• receive help from SEP in their life's problems
• take part as experts or specialists in commercial activities of SEP,
• take advantage of discounts in subscribing periodicals issued by SEP,

Supporting members of SEP can be legal persons and natural persons interested in activities of SEP and supporting it pecuniary.
Supporting members of SEP can register in branches of SEP or at the Main Board of SEP.
Main Board of SEP or Branch of SEP:

• organize events contributing to the realization of technical and economic objectives of supporting members
• propagate in its publications activities of supporting members
• ensure participation of representatives of supporting members in events organized by themselves.