Hedy Lammarr

"American actress and inventor"

Austrian-born American actress Hedy Lamarr (1913 - 2000), 6th October 1943. — Hedy Lamarr, an Austrian-American actress and inventor, was born in Vienna, Austria in 1914. She gained fame for her role in Ecstasy in 1932. Lamarr married Austrian munitions dealer Fritz Mandl in 1933 but their marriage was short-lived. She moved to London in 1937 and met Louis B. Mayer of MGM Studios. Lamarr's most significant invention was communication system for World War II. Her patent expired before she earned a penny, but she continued to work in films until 1958.

Contribution to Technology

1937 - Developed a passion for helping the U.S. military after divorcing an Austrian Fascist waepons manufacturer who wanted to come up with a plan to jam U.S. aircraft and waepons.
1939 - Lamarr figured out that by tranmitting radio signal's along rapidly changing ("hopping") frequencies. U.S. radio-guided torpedos would be dair more resilient to detecting and jamming.
1940 - Finished work on the 'frequency hopping spread spectrum with George Antheil - an avante-garde composer.
1942 - Lamarr and Antheil patentend their "Secret Communications System" which used radio frequences to create an unbreakable code for secret messages.
1962 - The U.S. military re-considered and utilized frequency hopping spread spectrum technology during the Cuban missile crisis.
1997 - The Electronic Frontier Foundation honors Lamarrs with a special Pionner Award and she became the first woman to receive the Invention Convention's BULBIE Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award.
2014 - Lamarr was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Such Achievement has led Lammar to be dubbed "The mother of Wi-Fi" which technology now serves as the basis of modern spread-spectrum communication technologies used today.

Hedy Lammarr

Contribution to Technology

If you would like to learn more about Lemarrs' Lifestyle visit Womens History.