The ground-breaking Australian invention that paved the way for global wi-fi has been added to a major British Museum exhibition that charts human history.

The CSIRO's 1992 wireless local area network (WLAN) Test Bed has been chosen by the National Museum of Australia (NMA) to become the 101st item in A History Of The World In 100 Objects that opens next month in Canberra.

The technology for high-speed indoor wireless data transmission was developed by researchers from CSIRO's then radiophysics division and became a commercial success.

It led to the development of wi-fi which is now used in more than 5 billion devices around the world, including computers, television sets and smartphones.

NMA director Mathew Trinca said the WLAN Test Bed was the foundation for the technology that changed the way people live, work and play.

"It's liberated us from our desks," he said.

"It's made the capacity that we have now to communicate with each other, to receive information wherever we are, something that is normal, taken for granted, used every day."

Invention born from challenge to commercialise pure science

WLAN team leader John O'Sullivan said the inventors had been challenged to find a way to use scientific research for a commercial application.

"We set ourselves the task of making a wireless network that could operate at the speeds of the very best wired network of the time," he said.

"It meant we couldn't rest on our laurels and copy what others had done — we'd have to go out there and do something really different."

Team member Terence Percival said the WLAN Test Bed was initially built as a marketing tool.

"We went around the world trying to find partners in computer companies, communications companies, to help us take this to commercialisation," he said.

Graham Daniels, Terence Percival and John O'Sullivan were part of the WLAN team. ( 666 ABC Canberra: Louise Maher )

"We had the ideas, we'd done the patent, we knew how to make it work, but a lot of them didn't believe us.

"One of the large companies even said: 'Oh, look, wireless, that's a passing fad'."

Team member Graham Daniels said it was exciting to have the WLAN Test Bed chosen as the 101st object in the British Museum exhibition.

But he also said he was "slightly embarrassed" because of all the other things "that might well be a significant contribution to the advancing of the world".

"We did it for interest sake as well, not only thinking there was an outcome to it," he said.

"But to think that it was recognised is really wonderful."

Exploring 2 million years of history

A History Of The World In 100 Objects explores human history from 2 million years ago to the present day.

Artefacts featured include ancient gold coins, a modern Islamic credit card and, exclusive to the Australian tour, a bronze head of Augustus that is regarded as one of the most important surviving portraits of the first Roman emperor.

The exhibition, which was also shown at the Western Australia Museum in Perth, opens at the NMA on September 9.