The European Society for Evolutionary Biology was founded on 28 August 1987 in Basle (Switzerland), with about 450 evolutionary biologists attending the inaugural congress of the Society; Arthur Cain became the Society's first president. The founding of the ESEB was closely linked to the launching of the Society's journal, the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, with Stephen C. Stearns as the first Editor in Chief, and the first issue appearing in January 1988 (see the Editorial opening the journal). See also Steve Stearns's personal account of the early days of the ESEB. Since its foundation, the ESEB has grown and matured, with its membership reaching 1200 in 2009 (see graph), while the Journal of Evolutionary Biology became a major journal in the field. This reflects the growth of the evolutionary biology community in Europe and beyond, which the Society helped to foster. The success of the ESEB would not be possible without many members who devoted their time and effort to the Society and the journal: elected officers, congress organizers, members of the council, committees and the editorial board of the journal.
1987-1989: Arthur Cain, Liverpool, UK
1989-1991: Bengt Bengtsson, Lund, Sweden
1991-1993: John Maynard Smith, Brighton, UK
1993-1995: John Harper, Bangor, Wales
1995-1997: Wim Scharloo, Utrecht, The Netherlands
1997-1999: Stephen Stearns, Basel, Switzerland
1999-2001: Godfrey Hewitt, Norwich, UK
2001-2003: Deborah Charlesworth, Edinburgh, UK
2003-2005: Rolf Hoekstra, Wageningen, The Netherlands
2005-2007: Paul Brakefield, Leiden, The Netherlands
2007-2009: Isabelle Olivieri, Montpellier, France
The congresses are held every other year.
The next congress will be held in Tübingen, Germany, in August 2011 and will be organised by Nico Michiels.
1987 in Basel; organiser Stephen Stearns
1989 in Rome; organiser Valerio Sbordoni
1991 in Debrecen; organiser Gabor Vida
1993 in Montpellier; organiser François Catzeflis
1995 in Edinburgh; organiser Nick Barton
1997 in Arnhem; organiser Jos van Damme
1999 in Barcelona; organiser Antionio Fontdevilla
2001 in Århus; organiser Volker Loeschcke
2003 in Leeds; organiser Roger Butlin
2005 in Krakow; organiser Jan Kozlowski
2007 in Uppsala; organiser Jacob Höglund
2009 in Torino; organisers Cristina Lorenzi and Gabriella Sella