Editorial - Fiftieth anniversary of TDEI

This year the IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation (TDEI) is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. TDEI actually began in 1994 when 'Dielectrics' was added to the previous title of the same publication of IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation (TEI). The first issue of TEI was published in March 1965, fifty years ago, with a very modest beginning. That first issue, which can be accessed on IEEE Xplore, had only four papers constituting a total of 19 printed pages. TEI was international in outlook right from its beginning. The four papers in the first issue were submitted from Japan (one paper) and the USA (three papers). The second issue of TEI was published in November 1965 and had papers from the United Kingdom (two) and the USA (one). In its first year TEI had a total of seven papers totaling 48 pages. These papers covered a wide range of topics such as electrical failure of organic insulators, thermal behavior of enamel wires and other solid insulation, electrical breakdown of solids and gaseous insulation. Papers on these topics may still be seen in recent issues of TDEI.