  In 1980, Antonio Aurilia, Hermann Nicolai and I constructed an N=8
supergravity with a positive exponential potential for one of the 70 scalar
fields by adapting the dimensional reduction of 11D supergravity to allow for a
non-zero 4-form field-strength in 4D. This model, now viewed as a particular
gauged maximal supergravity, had little influence at the time because it does
not have a maximally-symmetric vacuum. However, as shown here, it does have a
domain-wall solution, which lifts to the M2-brane solution of D=11
supergravity. The possibility of a similar construction for other branes of
M-theory is also explored.
