{"id":232589,"date":"2026-04-20T14:34:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=232589"},"modified":"2026-04-20T16:20:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T02:20:22","slug":"in-memoriam-franklin-kuo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/20\/in-memoriam-franklin-kuo\/","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: Professor Emeritus, ALOHAnet co-founder Franklin Kuo"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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College of Engineering Dean Brennon Morioka and Professor Emeritus Franklin Kuo in fall 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Franklin Kuo, a pioneering engineer whose work helped lay the foundation for modern wireless communications, died April 14. He was 91.<\/p>\n

Kuo, a professor emeritus in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa<\/span>, co-developed ALOHAnet<\/a> in the late 1960s and early 1970s with colleague Norman Abramson<\/a>. The system, launched in 1971, was the world\u2019s first wireless packet network and introduced protocols that underpin technologies such as ethernet and wi-fi.<\/p>\n

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Norman Abramson and Franklin Kuo in 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Educated in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Kuo began his career at Bell Laboratories in the early 1960s, conducting research in computer communications. He joined UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> in 1966 as a full professor, where his work on ALOHAnet helped place the university on the global map in networking innovation.<\/p>\n

“This is a profound loss for our college and the global engineering community,” College of Engineering Dean Brennon Morioka said. “Frank\u2019s vision and leadership helped establish a culture of bold, boundary-pushing research at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> that continues to inspire our faculty and students today. His legacy lives on in the spirit of innovation that defines who we are. Both Frank and his wife Dora have been valuable members of our Engineering ʻohana<\/span>.”<\/p>\n

Related UH<\/abbr> News<\/em> stories on ALOHAnet:<\/p>\n