One of the early wireless LAN pioneers is actually more famous as a space colonization visionary.

Ever heard of “O’Neill Cylinders”? In his 1974 book “The High Frontier”, Princeton physicist Gerard O’Neill developed concepts for our future in space, including an architecture for massive rotating cylinders to house orbiting human colonies. When Jeff Bezos introduced his own Blue Origin moon lander he paid homage to O’Neill as one of his inspirations.

In the late 1980s, O’Neill started his own company called “O’Neill Communications” — with one of the very first commercially offered wireless LAN products. Called “LAWN” — for Local Area Wireless Network — it was based on transceiver boxes the size of a loaf of bread to which you could attach a personal computer or a printer. It sold for $495.

LAWN was one of the very first products approved by the FCC under their Part 15 rules for unlicensed local area radio networks. O’Neill passed away in 1992 and unfortunately didn’t get to witness the explosive worldwide success of Wi-Fi. But he was truly a Wi-Fi pioneer.

More details can be found in Beyond Everywhere.