A brief history of the IGU IGU is born, 1931-1934
different aspects of gas usage, respectively
At 10am on June 2, 1931, the 68th Annual
industrial, domestic and pricing; France with
General Meeting of the UK’s Institution of Gas
harmonisation of methods for testing gas
Engineers (IGE) and the first International Gas
appliances and the unification of certification
Conference opened in the Great Hall of the
standards; Germany with the coordination and
Institution of Civil Engineers in London. That
guarantee of methods for testing gas manu
afternoon representatives of Belgium, France,
facturing equipment; and Switzerland
Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland
responsible for reporting on gas safety.
and the UK, along with observers from Norway
Contacts were established with the Joint
and the United States, held the first meeting of
International Committee for Tests relating to
the IGU Council.
the Protection of Telecommunication Lines and
IGE President Harold E. Copp was elected as President of the 1st International Gas Conference and Fritz Escher as IGU President for the follow
Underground Ducts (CMI from its French initials) and the World Power Conference. Canada, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Italy,
ing three years. Pierre Mougin was appointed
Poland, the United States and Yugoslavia joined
Secretary General with the Secretariat based
IGU during the first triennium.
in Paris. Areas of technical study were allocated with
The 2nd International Gas Conference and the first to be organised under IGU’s auspices
Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, and the UK
took place from September 1-4, 1934 in Zurich,
tasked with looking at the development of
held in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
v Participants in IGU’s first Council meeting and H. Morioka from the Kobe Gas Company (Japan did not join IGU until 1952) pose for a group picture in London on June 3, 1931.
124 A b r i e f h i s t o r y o f t h e I G U
