The International Federation of Societies for Microscopy (French: Fédération internationale des sociétés de microscopie électronique; Spanish: Federación Internacional de Sociedades de Microscopia Electrónica; German: Internationaler Verband der Gesellschaften für Elektronenmikroskopie)[1] is an international non-governmental organization representing microscopy.
[3] The IFSM was created in October 1951 by the International Council for Science (ICSU) as the Joint Commission for Electron Microscopy.
[1][2][3] In July 1955, it became an independent federation following the meeting of national societies representing electron microscopy from the nations of Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden and Norway), Switzerland and the United States, forming the International Federation of Electron Microscope Societies, with the view of furthering international co-operation between microscopists.
[1][2][3] In 1958, the federation changed its name to the International Federation of Societies for Electron Microscopy following the joining of national societies representing Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy and Spain.
[3] In 2002, the word "Electron" was dropped creating the current name International Federation of Societies for Microscopy.