Serious question, with respect. What is your profession? I think that some acronyms, like NASA, need no explanation. In Vanity Fair I would expect IEEE to be explained, but not on HN. For what it's worth I don't work with hardware or electronics now am I an engineer nor do I live in the US. The IEEE is still a very well known acronym among my peers.

Maybe the point was that IEEE is a non-profit, so the award is about honor, not monetary amount.

Is that what 501 means? I think had such an explanation been the goal, then it could have been stated explicitly.

Though maybe in GP's field the term 501 is as commonly known as I think that IEEE is in mine. ))

Yes, 501(c)(3) is an easily recognizable (for Americans) reference to a non-profit organization, named so after the section of the tax code.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/1/501c3-organizations.asp

I would hope the vast majority of HN readers know what the IEEE is!

Don’t make fun of the kids for being kids.

I hope so too since my simple definition was downvoted into invisibility.

I feel like the Wikipedia article understates the reach of IEEE:

- Produces 30 percent of the world’s published literature in electrical engineering, computers and control technology.

- Holds annually more than 300 major conferences.

- Has nearly 900 active standards with 700 under development.

https://umaine.edu/ieee/what-is-ieee/

Funnily enough, my brain still associates IEEE with ethernet, or networking in general. I know what it is, but I think the first few times I read the term was on some network config view in an old Windows version, probably next to some protocol selector. Now whenever I see IEEE, my brain loads a picture of a network config page, or an ethernet cable & port.