Hedy Lamarr who was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria was a worldwide beauty icon who had a lot more to offer the world than her looks. She was an actress who went on to sign with MGM but not only was she talented, she was brilliant also. Hedy Lamarr is a pioneer in spread spectrum technology. She patented something called the “Secret Communication System,” which went on to be the beginning of military communication as well as mobile phone technology.
Hedy’s idea involved changing radio frequencies while communicating in order to stop enemy countries from being able to block signals and detect frequencies. While they patented their idea in 1942, the technology at the time made it hard for them to actually create what they had thought of and the military was not open to outside ideas. Finally, in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis a form of their idea started appearing on ships.
Hedy and her partner George Antheil went on to win the Electric Frontier Foundation Inventor Award, the BULBIE Gnass Spirit of Achievement Bronze Award, and were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.
The Famous Women Inventors page led me to discover this amazing woman who was beautiful, talented, and brilliant. Unfortunately Hedy Lamarr passed away in January of 2000 so an interview would not be possible although there seems to be interviews of her on the Science Channel and Discovery Channel.
