I just became aware of new website – Lidar and Photogrammetry Development. It appears to offer a wealth of information on the topics with an emphasis on news, software and education.
In one of the articles on LiDAR the author traces the early history of the technology back to the 70’s to an early NASA system. It was the availability of GPS and critical foundation research at Stuttgart University in the late 80’s that enabled the commercial development of LiDAR in the 1990’s.
It’s not clear who is behind this effort, but in any case kudos for providing this resource.