Ronald Cooper Crane (June 1, 1950 - June 19, 2017) was an American electrical engineer recognized for designing the EtherLink, the first network interface controller for the IBM PC.[1] He was also a co-founder of 3Com and a co-inventor of Ethernet.[2]
Biography
Crane graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. He then attended Stanford University initially planning to pursue a doctorate degree in electrical engineering. In 1973, while pursuing his doctorate degree at Stanford, Crane joined the TCP/IP protocol research team, headed by Vint Cerf. In 2005, a "Birth of the Internet" plaque was installed on the Stanford grounds, and Crane's name, among others, is listed on the plaque as being a fundamental contributor to the birth of the Internet.
Crane left Stanford in 1974, accepting a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering instead of his planned doctorate degree, and began to work at the Xerox Systems Development Division, a spinoff of Xerox PARC, where he was responsible for enhancing the original Ethernet transmission system.[3] Crane joined Bob Metcalfe at 3Com as the fourth employee and co-founder in 1979.[4] It was at 3Com where Crane developed the 3C100, the first Thick Ethernet transceiver for the IBM PC, which went on to be the first major product offered by 3Com.[5]
Crane founded LAN Media Corporation in 1992. It was later acquired by SBE Incorporated in 2000, which was, in turn, acquired by Neonode in 2007.[6][7]
In 2006, Crane endowed a professorship at MIT to support energy-related research.[3]
Crane died on June 19, 2017, from complications of an aggressive form of prostate cancer. A memorial event was held at the Computer History Museum and attended by over 100 esteemed colleagues, friends and family. Bob Metcalfe gave the closing speech.[8]
In 2019, a book entitled "The 3Com story" was published, that, in part, documents Crane's contributions to networking and 3Com.
