The first draft of the ECMWF Convention was considered on 9 and 10 December 1971, with 32 senior representatives from 14 of the 18 founding States attending. The Convention was signed in 1973 and came into force on 1 November 1975. Its creation set up the centre as an independent intergovernmental organisation.
The Convention set up the Centre as an independent international organisation.
A Danish national, Professor Askel Wiin-Nielsen was ECMWF’s first Director from 1 January 1974 to 31 December 1979. He put ECMWF on track to become a world leader in global numerical weather prediction.
In order to run weather forecast models within a schedule that has reasonably short timeslots, powerful supercomputer systems are required. The first version of the ECMWF weather forecasting model was developed on a Control Data Corporation 6600 computer from 1975 to 1978.
Co-operation agreement with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Having been ratified by 13 Member States, the ECMWF Convention entered into force on 1 November 1975 and the Centre became an intergovernmental organisation in its own right.
Germany
The first session of the Council was held from 4 to 6 November 1975.
Member State
Member State
