European Optical Society

Optics in Europe was represented by the European Optical Committee (EOC) until 1984, when the EOC joined the European Physical Society (EPS) to create an Optics Division. Two years later the national optical societies of several European countries founded the European Federation for Applied Optics – Europtica – which was officially registered in Paris in 1987. In December 1986 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between EPS (the legal representative of the Optics Division), Europtica, and SPIE, in which the three parties agreed to organise jointly one major annual optics meeting in Europe. This MOU initiated the ECO series of meetings, which were managed by the French organisation Europtica Services International Communications. The experience with these conferences demonstrated the need for effective organisation of optical activities in Europe.

In view of this need, the Board of the Optics Division of EPS unanimously voted in March 1990 to open negotiations with Europtica in order to found the European Optical Society (EOS). EOS was founded on 24 May 1991.