The Wireless History Foundation (WirelessHistoryFoundation.org) is set to launch Monday at a gala at the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago.

The sold-out fundraiser, at $250 a plate, expects about 400 industry pioneers, supporters and executives from Motorola Inc., Nokia, AT&T Inc. and others. They will celebrate the first wireless network that started after the creation of the first cell phone, Motorola's DynaTac.

"This is the first time so many heavyhitters from the past, present and future of wireless will be in one room at one time," said Steve Kidera, spokesman for Arlington, Va.-based Consumer Electronics Association, which is co-hosting the event with the foundation.

The nonprofit foundation aims to preserve and promote the history of wireless telecommunications, including phones, pagers, public safety and private radio services, said Kidera.

The foundation doesn't have a physical storefront yet and is just now building the Web site. But the group soon hopes to offer a virtual museum with resources for everyone, including researchers, students and teachers, he said.

More than 35 years ago, a team of Motorola engineers began their work that led to the creation of the DynaTac, the first portable wireless phone, affectionately called "The Brick" because of its heavy, large size.

Last year, that DynaTac team was honored for the first time at a ceremony in Chicago hosted by GlobalSpec, a search engine and e-publisher serving the engineering, manufacturing and related scientific and technical sectors.

"If we don't make products that help people, then we've failed," Marty Cooper, former Motorola director of research and development who formed the DynaTac team, said last year.

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