Establishment

In the First years of the Eindhoven University of Technology there was a need for study associations. Since computer science played no significant role yet, a study association for Mathematics was erected. They were named Sunya.

On November 11 1981 a group comes together which later formed the first board. On November 18 1981 during a brainstorm day a name was found: GEWIS. Then, on February 11 1982, 16:30 one of the important times had commenced; a weekly drink started.

On June 28 1982 all formalities are done and GEWIS has been found. Her birthday will always be held at June 28, also named Dies Natalis (often abbreviated to Dies). The character of her life after this date is dynamic and sociable. 
The overview below is but a mere reflection of this life. If you wish to know more about GEWIS, step by once and talk to some of the members.

Overview

1982 - 1987: 1st lustrum

• June 28 1982 
  GEWIS was founded.
• December 8 1982 
  1st General Meeting
• December 9 1982 
  GEWIS organises a songfestival for the election of the GEWIS-song.
• August 1983 
  A group picture is taken during the introduction week with the upcoming first year students. 
  
• 1983 
  The Supremum, the magazine of GEWIS (and Sunya before that), celebrates its 15th birthday.
• September 5 1985 
  The monthly drink is replaced by a weekly drink.
• December 27 1986 
  Some GEWIS'ers take part in a world record attempt at toppling dominos.

1987 - 1992: 2nd lustrum

• 23 March 1988 
  The first GEWIS Soundmix and playback show has successfully been held.
• 1990 
  The first GEWIS yearbook has been published.
• September 1991 
  The study Computer Science exists 10 years.

1992 - 1997: 3rd lustrum

• June 28 1992 
  GEWIS exists 10 jaar. The lustrum them is "Finally a teenager"
• 1992/1993 
  The Buc fraternity presents the first GEWIS songbooks which contains the current GEWIS-song.
• December 1993 
  GEWIS buys a delivery bicycle.
• 1995/1996 
  GEWIS organizes the EC-programming.
• June 26 ñ July 3 1995 
  The department, in cooperation with almost all of GEWIS, organises the 7th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI'95). This includes a world record attempt for the Guinness Book of Records, for the largest computer game in the world: Hot Balls.
• June 1996 
  First time a sailboat capsizes during a GEWIS sailing weekend. GEWIS does it right the first time and capsizes two boats.
• February 1997 
  Roel Bouwman & Pieter Jenniskens start building the bar in HG8.79.

1997 - 2002: 4th lustrum

• May 12 ñ May 16 1997 
  Celebration of the 3rd lustrum "3 maal = feestrecht". Also, on May 14 there is a symposium named: "Knowing more? Collecting and passing on knowledge using modern resources".
• June 28 1997 
  GEWIS exists 15 years.
• July 2 1997 
  Seminar about JAVA.
• ï Christmas 1997 
  It turns out the service pipes to the new bar of GEWIS built by the BTD have not been constructed properly. The service pipes break and a water leak brings serious damage to the Engineering library.
• April 26 1998 
  GEWIS participates in the Batavierenrace, world's biggest relay-race, for the first time.
• March 28 1998 
  The symposium about artificial intelligence and virtual reality, named "AI & VR: Autonomous conduct in a virtual world" takes place.
• April 11 1999 
  GEWIS helps out organizing the WC programming. This is the only time ever the WC has been held outside the United States. The University of Waterloo, Ontaria, Canada was the winner.
• June 1999 
  Mr. Kaldewaij gives a lecture during the Dies-celebration.
• 7 juli 2000 
  During the Dies-celebration Mr. Dijkstra gives a lecture. On top of that the 10th year book of GEWIS is handed out here. It is themed "Progress: Science or Magic".
• December 4 2001 
  75th General Meeting
• February 21 2002 
  750th Board Meeting

2002 - 2007: 5th lustrum

• May 27 - May 31 2002 
  Celebration of the 4th lustrum, titled "GELUK is for sale". The festivities contain a cantus and a reunion.
• June 6 2002 
  GEWIS organises a symposium named "Security: Veilig op weg in de digitale wereld" where, amonst others, Philip Zimmermann, the creator of PGP, gives a lecture.
• June 28 2002 
  GEWIS celebrates its 20th birthday.
• August 29 2005 
  The reception of the new board gets out of hand and appears in the regional and national news. The deparment imposes an alcohol ban on GEWIS for 3 weeks.
• November 2 2006 
  The last weekly drink HG 8.78. The tap isn"t used because the good old Brand bottles have been reintroduced. Also, the year book 2004-2006 is handed out.
• ï November 9 2006 
  The new GEWIS-room, HG 10.52, is opened by Harry Roumen. The unofficial GEWIS-band GERUIS performs at this weekly drink..
• November 15 2006 
  The 95th General Meeting is adjourned because there is a lack of time. At this meeting the GEWIS-flag, which has been stolen in the summer vacation in 2006 is discussed. The meeting is then continued on November 16 2006. The GEWIS-flag is returned anonymously on November 17 2006. Up to this day it is unknown who stole the flag.
• May 21 ñ May 25 2007 
  Celebration of the 5th lustrum organised by GEZILVER (GEWIS Zal In't Lustrumjaar Vele Evenementen Realiseren). The festivities contain a cantus, a party in cafe 'Fame', a poker tournament and a reunion.
• June 14 2007 
  A sympiosum is organised during the 5th lustrum of GEWIS, themed "Artificial Intellegence". Prof. Dr. Emile Aarts is the main speaker.
• November 20 2007 
  100th General Meeting.

2007 - 2012: 6th lustrum

• 21 September 2009  
  For the first time in history, GEWIS has two freshmen committees. Between the committees there exists a healthy rivalry and both of them organize fun activities.
• 25 November 2009  
  GEWIS organizes a SNiC symposium named Securiosity about internet safety, one of the speakers is dr. Benne de Weger.
• 28 April 2010  
  The 100th chairmen meeting takes place, there are some festivities and the meeting can be viewed on a screen. There is also a board with hammers is given, with a chairman hammer for every committee and fraternity.
• 3 May 2010  
  GEWIS organizes the Kaleidoscoopdag, a math symposium titled "math+" in which several applications of mathematics are shown. Among the speakers is prof. dr. ir. Henk van Tilborg, who speaks about cryptology.
• 1 July 2010  
  During the constitution drink of the 29th board they receive a very special gift: two budgerigars. They are named Baron Asturias Diego Bièrra (Beer) and Tsarina Minka Svetlana Tietenova (Tits).
• 23 October 2010  
  Team "Joy", consisting of Pieter Bootsma, Bauke Conijn and Thijs Marinussen wins the BAPC (Benelux Algorithm Programming Contest), and there are three other teams from Eindhoven in the top 6 as well.
• 16 May 2011  
  During the 119th general meeting it is decided that Henk van Tilborg gets the honor of being be a honorary member of GEWIS. This is because of his excellent relationship with the students, his participation in study trips and his actions in representing the interests of GEWIS in the departmental board. He receives this honor during his retirement meeting on October 7.
• 26 and 27 May 2011  
  Three members of GEWIS, Britt Mathijsen, Laura Sprenkels and Thomas Meyfroyt, win "The night of Eindhoven", a competition organized by CQM. GEWIS receives a share of the prize and a celebratory drink is held at GEWIS.
• 15 June 2012  
  In honor of the retirement of Harry Roumen, the FSE (Federatie Studieverenigingen Eindhoven) organizes a cantus, which takes place in the GEWIS room. Harry was the secretary of the university for years and was very popular among students. He often appeared at activities, for instance the "GELIMBO dieszitting".
• 7 through 16 May 2012  
  GEWIS celebrates the 6th lustrum in a week themed "Monte Carlo" with, among other things, a talk from prof. dr. Remco van der Hofstad about mathematics in the casino, a grand-prix drink with a karting contest and a ball.
• 30 august 2012  
  During the last social drink in the main building an auction is held, in which all things are sold, that cannot get a new place in the new room. Many barstools, fraternity objects, and study tour artifacts find a new home.
• 6 September 2012  
  The grand opening drink is the first one in the Metaforum. All employees of the department are invited and many former members come by to admire the new room.

2012-2017: 7th lustrum

• 2 February 2016 
  After having the same website for many years, the WebCommittee rolls out a new website, with a refreshing design and a future-proof design. This website is opensource as well.

2017-2022: 8th lustrum

• 2019-2020 
  Development of SudoSOS, the new bar system, starts.
• 9 October 2019 
  Fraternity Défi is founded.
• November 2019 
  The North Western European Regional Constest (NWERC 2019) is hosted in Eindhoven again. An astronomical amount is paid for pasta for the over 500 attendees.
• March 2020 
  Because of the Covid-19 pandemic the GEWIS room is closed and a digital version on Discord is opened, where online meetings (like GMMs) and events are hosted. In June it was possible to organise in-person activities with distance between the attendees, although they are limited in participant numbers.