Fast Fourier transforms
Windows wireless networking by plakboek The CSIRO ought to get more recognition for their pioneering work in this field of developing the Fast Fourier Transformation chips that lead to the development of WLAN or Wi-Fi networks. It came out of the research they were conducting in radioastronomy and is a great example how blue sky research can often bring about commercial spin offs or advantages down the track that may not be imediately obvious or aparent.
The ABC Catalyst science show gave some good background to this work and their legal fight. It is a pity that this history is only given a brief mention on Wikipedia .. perhaps somebody could fill in the gap ;-)
Crikey, I recall all the fast Fourier transformation calculations that were crunched through slowly in Fortran on the mainframe that underpinned the mysterious workings of the NMR and IR machines I used back in the early 1980s when I worked at ICI Australia. To build a chip to come up with these calculations was a huge step forward.