The Geochemical Society was founded in 1955 at a meeting of the Geological Society of America. Its first president was Earl Ingerson and dues started at two dollars per year. In 1990 it was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1990.
In 1988, the Geochemical society created the Goldschmidt Conferences in honor of the geochemist Victor Goldschmidt (1888&ndash;1947), "considered to be the founder of modern geochemistry and crystal chemistry". It was soon joined by the European Association of Geochemistry, and at the 2014 meeting the two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the governance and trademark protection of the meeting. The conference is one of the worlds largest devoted to geochemistry. The societys board of directors holds its annual meeting during the conference.