Wi-Fi was not invented by a single person but developed through contributions from multiple inventors over several decades.
- Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil : In the 1940s, actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil invented a frequency hopping system to prevent radio jamming during World War II. This technology laid the groundwork for spread spectrum communication, which is fundamental to modern wireless technologies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- John O'Sullivan and the CSIRO team : In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Australian scientist John O'Sullivan and his colleagues at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) developed a core technology to enable fast and reliable wireless local area networking (WLAN). Their work on reducing radio signal echo and improving signal processing was patented in 1992 and is considered a key breakthrough for Wi-Fi as we know it today
- Vic Hayes : Known as the "father of Wi-Fi," Vic Hayes chaired the IEEE committee that established the international standard for wireless networking (IEEE 802.11) in 1997, which helped formalize Wi-Fi technology for commercial use
In summary, Hedy Lamarr’s frequency hopping concept was an important early step, the CSIRO team led by John O'Sullivan developed the practical wireless LAN technology, and Vic Hayes helped standardize Wi-Fi for widespread adoption
