Where did Wi-Fi come from?

Wi-Fi lets us read email in airports, watch video in coffee shops and listen to music at home.

It can convert our airline seats to remote offices. Wi-Fi is everywhere.

But where did it come from? Did you know the world’s first Wi-Fi network was built by a Palmer guy?

In his new book, “Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio,” Palmer resident Dr. Alex Hills describes leading a small team of innovators to create that first network and the vision of what is now Wi-Fi.

Dr. Hills will sign copies of his book from 4 to 6 p.m., Sept. 21 at Fireside Books, 720 S. Alaska St., in Palmer. “Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio” is available at Fireside Books, online at dralexhills.com and through Amazon.com.

The work was done at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, where Dr. Hills is Distinguished Service Professor, but the story he tells begins and ends in in the Valley in Palmer. And one of the book’s chapters is set in Bush Alaska, where the author learned about the strange behavior of radio waves, knowledge that he later used to make Wi-Fi work.

The book takes us back to when the Internet was first gaining popularity, email took a long time to load up and cellphones were big and unwieldy.

But Hills had a vision: people carrying small, handheld devices that were always connected. His unwavering purpose was to change the way we use the Internet.

The first Wi-Fi network was originally a research project intended for use by only a few scientists. Hills had to fend off eager students begging to try it. But soon he found a way to expand the network to cover the entire Carnegie Mellon University campus for use by all students, faculty and staff.

His team came up with the design methods that would allow others to build their own Wi-Fi networks.