In the second half of the twentieth century various National and International Societies and other groups around the world start to organize meetings devoted to Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology.

In 1969 The Societas Internationalis pro Diagnostica in Ophtalmologia, SIDUO organized its Third International Symposium in Vienna, and an International Congress on Diagnostic Ultrasound was included in this Symposium.

Based upon efforts to expand the cooperation on an international basis it was decided to create a non-profit scientific organization as a Federation of Organizations with interest in Diagnostic Ultrasound.

A Working Committee adopted by SIDUO and chaired by Dr. Vlieger, member of SIDUO and president of EFSUMB, Netherlands, Dr. Brown, USA, Dr. Wagai, Japan, Dr. Oksale, Finland, Dr. Kossoff, Australia and Dr. White, USA was formed and a constitution for the Federation, now called the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, WFUMB was formulated. Dr. Vlieger was the President.

The Constitution of WFUMB was adopted in 1973, took effect in 1988 and was revised in 1997. In 1973 Dr. Baum, ophtalmologist and Past-President of AIUM became President.

Year Facts Person/Event   Country/Society
1761 Auscultation Leopold Auenbrugger Austria
1819 Stethoscope R.T.H. Laennec France
1826 Experiment on velocity of sound in water Jean-Daniel Colladon,
Charles Sturm
Switzerland
1842 Detection of the Doppler effect by Christian Doppler, Salzburg Austria Christian Doppler Austria
1851 Ophthalmoscope  Hermann Helmholtz Germany
1854 Laryngoscope  Manuel Garcia (singer) Spain
1876 Cystoscope Max Nitze Germany
1877 The theory of sound Lord Rayleigh England
1880 Discovery of the piezoelectric effect Pierre and Jacques Curie  France
1912 The tragic loss of the Titanic   England
1914-1918 WWI    
1917 First piezoelectric US transducer using a single large quartz crystal Paul Langevin France
1928 US could be used to detect hidden flaws in metals Sergei Sokolov Soviet
1931 Invention of the echo sounder by  Alexander Behm, Kiel Alexander Behm Germany
1937 US through transmission used to visualize ventricles in the brain  Karl Dussik,
Friedrich Dussick
Austria
1939 Der Ultraschall (English edition) published L. Bergmann Germany
1939-1945 WWII    
1941 Pulse-echo US instrument with a second non-generating transducer to detect returning echoes Donald Sproule and others
working for Henry Hughes and Son
England
1941 Reflectoscope with a single transducer as both generator and receiver Floyd Firestone USA
1946 Use of high-intensity US as a noninvasive surgical technique to treat brain-related disorders William Fry USA
1947 Hyperphonograms of cerebral ventricles produced Karl Dussik, Friedrich Dussick Austria
1947 Experiments on detection of gallstones and foreign bodies using A-mode presentation of reflected echoes George Ludwig USA
1949 Measured the thickness of excised bowel tissue using a Navy radar trainer operating at 15 MHz John Wild  USA
1949 First International Congress on Ultrasound in Medicine in Erlangen and Dussik presented his hyperphonograms Karl Dussick USA
1949 Japan's first A-mode US equipment at the research laboratories of Nihon Musen (Japan Radio) Company (now Aloka) Rokuro Uchida  Japan
1949 Ultrasonics' published  Benson Carlin USA
1949 Internationaler Kongress „Ultraschall in der Medizin“ (Ultrasound in Medicine) in Erlangen, Germany. The chairman of the meeting was a prophet as he summarized at the end: we can expect that ultrasound will find its way into the medical diagnosis in the near future in a larger scale   Germany
1950 Built a pulse-echo electronic scanner and recorded first cross-sectional US image using a 35mm camera   Douglass Howry USA
1951 Built scanners for multiposition (compound) scanning (published in 1952, B-29 version in 1954) Douglass Howry, Roderick Bliss,
Gerald Posakony
USA
1951 Developed A-mode machine Kikuchi Japan
1951 Earliest US image of breast tumors produced in the living subject John Wild and John Reid USA
1951 Began to apply A-mode US to detect gall stones and breast cancers in Japan Wagai Japan
1951 Earliest handheld B-mode contact scanners for clinical use John Wild and John Reid USA
1952 Conference at the University of Illinois (1955, 1962)  William Fry USA
1952 Reported intracerebral hematoma and brain tumors using 2 MHz flaw detection equipment Tanaka, Wagai Japan
1952 Reported abdominal mass using 2 MHz flaw detection equipment Douglas Howry USA
1952 AIUM officially established AIUM USA
1953 Launched clinical echocardiography using the pulse-echo technique. lnge Edler, Hellmuth Hertz Sweden
1954 Their first echocardiogram with M-mode recording at 35 mm photographic film lnge Edler, Hellmuth Hertz Sweden
1955 Published spectacular cross‐sectional images of the limbs and neck Douglas Howry, Joseph Holmes USA
1955 Conference at the University of Illinois; the first diagnostic paper on “Echographic Tissue Diagnosis” was given  John Wild, John Reid  USA
1955 Smaller and better transducers started to be made using new piezoceramic materials such as barium titanate and lead zirconate-titanate.    
1955 Applied Doppler ultrasound to cardiovascular investigation (published in 1956) Shigeo Satomura, Yasuharu Nimura Japan
1956 Use of ultrasound in orbit Henry Mundt, William Hughes,
Folke Jansson
USA (HM, WH), Sweden (FJ)
1956 Demonstrated evidence of intracranial tumor or hemorrhage from shift in the midline echo (1953) and published (1956) Lars Leksell, Douglas Gordon Sweden
1956-1957 Distinguish between ascites, ovarian cysts. and fibroid tumors on the basis of their echo patterns A-mode equipment for measuring fetal biparietal diameter. Introduction of the full bladder technique for scanning of the uterine contents Ian Donald UK
1957 Localization of foreign bodies in the eye Arvo Oksala Finland
1957 lnterscience Research Institute, a not-for-profit research institute located in Champaign, Ill., was founded William J. Fry, Francis J. Fry,
Reginald C. Eggleton.
USA
1958 First International Congress on Bio-Medical Engineering held in the uncompleted UNESCO building in Paris Ormerod (Chairman),
Gordon (Vice-Chairman)
France
1958 A seminal paper on the “Investigation of abdominal masses by pulsed ultrasound” published Ian Donald, Tom Brown  UK
1958 The first compound B-mode contact scanner patented, which did not need a water bath Tom Brown UK
1958 US diagnosis began in China with the establishment of the Ultrasonic Medical Research Group at the Sixth People’s Hospital in Shanghai. The group was led by Shih An. Shihn An China
1958 Doppler instruments were introduced into medicine    
1959 Second International Congress on Bio-Medical Engineering held in Paris   France
1959 The first National Ultrasound Conference was convened in Wuhan, China    China
1959 Ultrasonic Research Section of the National (formerly Commonwealth) Acoustic Laboratory was formed in Sydney George Kossoff Australia
1959 Polaroid film was available    
1960 Aloka produced their first commercial medical A-scanner, the SSD-2   Japan
1961 The Japan Society of Ultrasonics in Medicine (JSUM) was formed and the first meeting was held at Juntendo University in Tokyo on May 10, 1961. Toshio Wagai was elected as the President   Japan
1962 Mark I scanner (called in publications the CAL [Commonwealth Acoustic Laboratory] Echoscope), a compound water bath scanner completed   Australia
1962 The medical physicist Peter Wells developed his version of the multi-joint articulated arm scanner based on Diasonograph electronics and put it to clinical use in Bristol, England in 1962. Peter Wells UK
1962 The first meeting on medical and biological ultrasound was organised and the proceedings were published in 1965 William J. Fry USA
1963 Ekoline 20, an A-mode and B-mode instrument for echoencephalography, was introduced by Smith Kline-Precision    
1964 Physionics marketed three-jointed articulated-arm handheld scanner    
1964 The Societas Internationalis pro Diagnostica Ultrasonica in Ophthalmologia (SIDUO) was formed and its first international symposium was held in East Berlin   Germany
1965 The First International Conference on Diagnostic Ultrasound was organised and held with the sponsorship of the University of Pittsburgh. The proceedings of this meeting were published by Plenum Press in 1966.   USA
1965 The first commercial real-time scanner, the Vidoson, was developed by Richard Soldner and manufactured by Siemens Medical Systems of Germany   Germany
1966 The second SIDUO meeting was held in Brno, Czechoslovakia. Denis White encouraged the Executive of SIDUO to open its membership to every aspect of diagnostic ultrasound Denis White Czechoslovakia
1968 Publication on a phased-array transducer for two-dimensional imaging Jan C. Somer   
1969 The third meeting of SIDUO was renamed 'Ultrasound 1969: 1st World Congress on Ultrasonic Diagnostics in Medicine Vienna, June 2 including meetings of SIDUO III and AIUM'   Austria
1969 The British Medical Ultrasonics Group which was sponsored by the British Institute of Radiology, was formed in December 1969 (Later became the British Ultrasound Society in 1977)   UK
1969 Mark II scanner introduced   Australia
1969 The concept of grey scale echography was introduced and implemented it in the examination of the breast and of the pregnant uterus George Kossoff Australia
1969 The introduction of pulsed Doppler  Donald Baker, Peter Wells,
Pierre Peronneau
USA (DB), UK (PW), France (PP)
1969 The American Society of Ultrasound Technical Specialists (ASUTS) was formed under the aegis of the AIUM (In 1980 changed its name to the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (SDMS) in order to be more inclusive   USA
1969 The Swiss formed the Swiss Society for Diagnostic Ultrasound at the conclusion of the Vienna Congress   Switzerland
1970 The Australian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (ASUM) was established in March 1970 and held their first scientific meeting in August 1971   Australia
1970 Because Europe was still divided by the Cold War, Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia had organized the Ultrasound in Biology and Medicine society (UBIOMED) in 1970   Europe
1971 Publication on linear array real-time scanning Nicolaas Bom Netherland
1971 East German formed their national ultrasound society (19711120)   Germany
1971 The proceedings of the 1969 Vienna Congress, entitled ULTRASONO GRAPHIA MEDICA, were published in 1971 by Verlag der Wiener Medizinischen Akademie, with K. Ossoinig and J. Bock as editors    
1972 Publication on the use of gray scale    
1972 Hungarians formed their natioan society (Hungarian Biophysical Society, 19720110)   Hungary
1972 European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB) was founded in Basel, Swizerland with the delegates of 13 European societies (19720211)   EFSUMB
1972 The section on Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology was organised in the Academy of Sciences of USSR by Profs. L. R. Gavrilov, A. P. Sarvazyan and V. B. Akonian   USSR
1973 Rohe and Unirad introduced the first commercial analog scan converters with gray scale in the U.S.     
1973 The Rotterdam Congress held in 1973 was advertised as the Second World Congress on Diagnostic Ultrasound. It did not include the biannual meeting of SIDUO.   Netherland
1973 WFUMB was officially formed at the General Assembly by the association of five societies ‐ AIUM, JSUM, EFSUMB, SIDUO and ASUM. The first General Assembly elected Dr. G. Baum as President and approved the Constitution and accepted Pergamon Press as publisher for its journal, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology.   WFUMB
1973 The first issue of UMB was published (September)   UMB
1974 The proceedings of the Rotterdam meeting “Ultrasonics in Medicine”, Ed. M. de Vlieger, D. White and V. Mc Ready were published by Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, in 1974.    Netherland
1974 The American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS) was formed   USA
1974 Japanese Journal of Medical Ultrasonics was published as the official journal of JSUM   Japan
1974 A prototype of Octoson completed by UI   Australia
1976 A commercial model of the Octoson was available in 1976, and was used for scanning the breast, as well as the heart, abdomen, testes, and other areas.   Australia
1976 The first WFUMB Congress was held in San Francisco in 1976 (WFUMB'76), hosted by AIUM and with the mutual cooperation of AIUM (21st), EFSUMB, JSUM, ASUM, SIDUO (6th) and others   WFUMB
1979 European Committee for Ultrasound Radiation Safety was fromed by EFSUMB   EFSUMB
1979 The second WFUMB Congress was held in Miyazaki (also named the 4th World Congress    WFUMB
1980 The American Society of Ultrasound Technical Specialists (ASUTS) changed its name to the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (SDMS)   USA
1982 The third WFUMB Congress (WFUMB-82) was held in Brighton hosted by British Medical Ultrasound Society   WFUMB
1982 The First WFUMB Seminar on Safety and Standardization of Ultrasound in Obstetrics was held for three days immediately after WFUMB-82   WFUMB
1983 The AIUM/NEMA standard was developed and accepted    AIUM
1983 FLAUS was formed   FLAUS
1985 The fourth WFUMB Congress (WFUMB-85) was held in Sydney hosted by ASUM combined with the 1st Congress of World Federation of Sonographers and the 1st WFUMB Safety and Standardization Symposium    WFUMB
1985 The ASUM changed its name to the "Australasian Society", which was inclusive of Australia and New Zealand   ASUM
1986 LAFSUMB was established    
1986 MASU was founded in April 1986 and Hassen Gharbi was the first President and founder Hassen Gharbi  
1987 First AFSUMB was held in Tokyo    AFSUMB
1988 The first issue of WFUMB NEWS was published   WFUMB
1988 The Asian and the Latin Federations joined WFUMB   AFSUMB
1988 WFUMB-88 (5th) was held in Washington DC hosted by AIUM. The History and Archives Committee had Historical Symposium on Diagnostic Ultrasound and Kodak Health Sciences published the proceedings of this meeting entitled “Medical Diagnostic Ultrasound: A Retrospective on its 40th Anniversary”. The 2nd Congress of World Federation of Sonographers and the 2nd WFUMB Safety and Standardization Symposium were also held   WFUMB
1989 Kretztechnik of Austria began to market the first commercial 3-D scanner, the Combison 330   Austria
1991 WFUMB-91 (6th) was held in Copenhagen, Denmark   EFSUMB
1992 New AIUM/NEMA standard was developed   AIUM
1992 Peter Wells appointed as UMB editor (served until 2006)   UMB
1994 WFUMB-94 (7th) was held in Sapporo, Japan, in conjunction with the 4th Congress of World Federation of Sonographers   WFUMB
1996 At a WHO sponsored meeting held in Philadelphia in 1996, a joint Scientific Group prepared a report on Training in Diagnostic Ultrasonography – Essentials, Principles and Standards   WHO
1997 WFUMB-97 (8th) was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina   WFUMB
1997 WFUMB website established   WFUMB
2000 WFUMB-2000 (9th) was held in Florence, Italy (May 6~10). The Florence Congress was the last Congress to be co‐shared  with the Congress of Sonographers   WFUMB/EFSUMB
2000 The WFUMB educational activities, the “African and Asian projects”, were launched   WFUMB
2002 The first issue of ECHOES was published as a continuum od WFUMB Newsletter   WFUMB
2002 The first WFUMB Basic Course on Ultrasonography was held in Moshi, Tanzania (February 4-8) and the first WFUMB Training for the Trainers Ultrasound Workshop was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh (June 6-8)   WFUMB
2003 WFUMB-2003 (10th) was held in Montreal, Canada (June 1~4). A CD-ROM on “History of Medical Ultrasound” has been compiled under the supervision of the committee, and the CD-ROM was given to each of the participants of the congress. WFUMB Honorary Life Members were bestowed upon the previous WFUMB Presidents Dr. H. Thompson, Dr. G. Koss off, Dr. F. Weill and Dr. B. Goldberg.   WFUMB/AIUM
2003 WFUMB Administrative Council Meeting (May 31) decided to establish WFUMB Centers of Excellences (COE) at certain places in developing countries of the world   WFUMB
2004 The first WFUMB COE opened in Bangladesh in February. Dr. Kane Bala, Bangladesh Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and Research is the primary link in this WFUMB initiative. The second WFUMB CEO was established in Kampala, Ugandaby a contract with the Uganda Society of Ultrasound (UGASON) and the first workshop was conducted on October 16-20   WFUMB
2004 WFUMB Training Courses were held at Manila (Phiippines), Freetown (Sierra Leon), and Beijing (China)   WFUMB
2005 The first WFUMB Latin American Education Project Course was held in Lima, Peru (March 10-13)   WFUMB
2005 The third WFUMB CEO was established in Caracas, Venezuela, and the first workshop was held (June 22-25) in Guayana   WFUMB
2005 A WFUMB-sponsored book entitled “Manual of Diagnostic Ultrasound in Infectious Tropical Diseases” was published (edited by Dr. Lutz H. and Dr. Gharbi H)   WFUMB
2006 WFUMB-2006 (11th) was held in Seoul, Korea (May 28~ June 1)   WFUMB/AFSUMB
2006 WFUMB Training Course was held in Jakarta, Indonesia (January 27-29)   WFUMB
2006 Dr. Wells P.N.T., the Editor-in-Chief of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology stepped down from this position and WFUMB Honorary Life Member was bestowed upon him. Dr. Christy K. Holland was appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief.    WFUMB
2007 A new WFUMB COE was established in Romania and the inaugural workshop was held in Timisoara (June 1).   WFUMB
2007 At the meeting with the AIUM held in 2007 in New York it was agreed that, commencing in 2009, the AIUM office would be responsible for the provision of secretarial services to WFUMB and that the office would be co‐located with the AIUM in Washington, DC.   WFUMB
2007 Inaugural workshop of the Romanian CEO in Craiova   WFUMB
2007 The WFUMB Safety Committee work on the Safe Use of Ultrasound Contrast Agents is completed and a document is published in UMB   WFUMB
2007 WFUMB Executive Bureau with AFSUMB Congress, Bangkok in November 2007   WFUMB
2008 WFUMB Training Course was held in Agra, India (February 15-17)   WFUMB
2008 A joint meeting of WFUMB Council and Board members of ISR in Marrakech in June.   WFUMB
2008 WFUMB Training Course was held s were held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (July 24-26)   WFUMB
2009 WFUMB-2009 (12th) was held in Sydney, Australia (August 30~September 3)   WFUMB/ASUM
2009 The interval between WFUMB Congresses and the term of WFUMB officers were reduced from 3 years to 2 years    WFUMB
2010 Three courses of African education porject were held in Lusaka-Zambia (8-12 February), Tripoli-Libya (25-27 June), and Kigali-Rwanda (12-16 December)   WFUMB
2011 WFUMB-2011 (13th) was held in Vienna, Austria in conjunction with the 23rd Congress of EFSUMB (August 26~29)   WFUMB/EFSUMB
2011 WFUMB Training Course was held in Bangkok, Thailand (16-18 February)    WFUMB/AFSUMB
2013 WFUMB-2013 (14th) was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil (May 2~5)   WFUMB/FLAUS
2015 WFUMB-2015 (15th) was held in Orlando, USA (March 21~25)   WFUMB/AIUM
2017 WFUMB-2017 (16th) was held in Taipei, Taiwan (October 13~17)   WFUMB/AFSUM

WFUMB Former President, Seung Hyup Kim has kindly formed a full History in the download and presentations below:

WFUMB and Ultrasound History by Year 1761 – 2011