She Wasn’t Just A Gorgeous Actress, She Also Was An Inventor Who Became Known As “The Mother Of Wi-Fi”
Did you know that the person who inspired the technology behind WiFi and Bluetooth systems was an actress?
Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress born in 1914. She grew up in Vienna, Austria, and was very close to her father, Emil Kiesler.
He often encouraged Hedy to be a thinker and taught her about mechanical concepts, such as how certain machines work.
She also showed an interest in the performing arts at a young age. By the time she was 16, Hedy was discovered by film director Max Reinhardt who cast her in her first film, Geld auf der Strasse or “Money On The Street.”
This movie excelled her career in German films, and she starred in another production entitled Exstase or “Ecstasy.” It was this work that caught the attention of filmmakers in Hollywood.
Because of her incredible beauty and grace, Hedy was quickly signed to MGM Studios and became very popular in America. She started to land roles opposite some of the biggest stars at that time and starred in various popular films.
Although she was a total Hollywood star, her love for inventing, math, and science never died. She eventually met Howard Hughes, an American businessman and pilot who encouraged her to keep inventing.
He even gifted her small equipment sets so that she could keep working in her trailers whenever she wasn’t shooting a film.
After creating a series of small innovations, Hedy created something that became a cornerstone of modern technology. In 1940, she met writer, musician, and innovator George Antheil.
The two of them were extremely passionate about a variety of topics but were especially concerned with the impending WWII. They wanted to contribute to the cause and develop a system to help the fight against the Axis powers.
This was when they came up with the technological system known as “frequency hopping.” It allowed radio guidance transmitters and torpedo receivers to hop from frequency to frequency.
They patented it as their “Secret Communications System,” which helped make torpedos harder for enemies to detect. This kind of technology became the foundation for further advancements, such as WiFi and Bluetooth communication systems.
Despite their diligent work, the Navy decided against implementing their system, and Hedy actually never received a penny for her efforts. Nevertheless, she continued to act in various films and support the war efforts in other ways, and also became an American citizen in 1953.
In her later years, she finally started receiving proper recognition for all of her inventive contributions. She and George won the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 1997.
In addition, she became the first woman to win the Invention Convention’s Bulbie Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award. After she died at the age of 85 in 2000, she was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Now, Hedy Lamarr’s legacy lives on– not only as an iconic Hollywood actress but as “the mother of WiFi.”
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