Ron Crane

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. He was also a co-founder of 3Com and a co-inventor of Ethernet.

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 founded LAN Media Corporation in 1992. It was later acquired by SBE Incorporated in 2000, which was, in turn, acquired by Neonode in 2007.

In 2006, Crane endowed a professorship at MIT to support energy-related research.