The history of RFID, NFC's Parent Technology
World War II: Secret development of practical radar by the several nations
1940: Term RADAR coined by the US Navy (Radio detection and ranging)
1948: Invention of RFID by Harry Stockman in his paper, Communication by Means of Reflected Power
, Stockmans vision was before its time — “ before the invention of the transistor (1950s), the integrated circuit (late 1950s), and the microprocessor (1970s)
R&D exploration of RFID technology
Development of RFID theory
Emergence of RFID applications
Late 1960s: first and most widespread use of RFID by the Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS), which was used to prevent shoplifting or book theft from the library
Flurry of interest into RFID from inventors, companies, academia, and government labs
Early adopter implementations of RFID
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Northwestern University, the Microwave Institute Foundation in Sweden, Raytheon, RCA, General Electric
Mainstream commercial RFID applications, especially in transportation and tolls, animal tagging, and personal access
1987: Norway tests RFID toll collection
1989: Dallas North Turnpike and the Lincoln Tunnel (between New York and New Jersey) test RFID toll collection
Standardization by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
RFID widely deployed
1991: first open highway electronic tolling system opens in Oklahoma