| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1955 | Ian Aird of London, Erling Dahl-Iverson of Copenhagen, and Alexander Brunschwig of New York conceived the idea of a small meeting consisting of 30-50 leading surgeons from English speaking countries bordering the Atlantic. |
| 1956 | Together with John Hellstrom of Stockholm, Carl Semb of Oslo, and Jonathan Rhoads, they formed the “International Surgical Club”. 50 surgeons were selected for membership: 25 from USA and Canada, and 25 from Europe. |
| 1958 | Inaugural meeting on 17th July in Edinburgh. |
| 1959 | First meeting attended by spouses. |
| 1962 | First time program booklet was prepared. |
| 1965 | The idea of honorary fellows was introduced for surgeons of special distinction. It was decided that members over 65 would be senior members. Membership increased to 60. Members were elected from nations outside of the original members. |
| 1980 | First meeting held outside of the countries of the initial membership (Scandinavian countries, British Isles, Canada, and United States). This meeting was held in Heidelberg Germany. |
| 1982 | Silver Jubilee of the International Surgical Group (ISG). Gala meeting was held in London. |
| 1989 | Commemorative publication of history of the ISG: authored by Claude E. Welch, Dick Welbourn, Eivin Hasner, Jonathan Rhoads, and Bob Macbeth. Discussions of expanding the membership were abandoned. However, discussion of non-attenders and the 10% rule gained traction. |
| 1994 | ISG Ties designed by Michael Trede and Arthur Li. |
| 1996 | Discontinuation of the practice of inviting prospective members to meetings prior to election. |
| 2007 | Golden Jubilee 50th Annual meeting in London. Stricter rules introduced for exclusions because of non-attendance. |
| 2012 | Decision to devote one session of each meeting to debate on a topic and generating an ISG consensus statement for publication (not yet enacted in practice). |
| 2013 | Alarm Clock instituted to help speakers stay on time. |
| 2018 | Official Society Website. |
