Hedy Lamarr born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, November 9- 1914-January 19- 2000 was an Austro Hungarian born American actress and inventor.
After a brief early film career in
Czechoslovakia, including the controversial Ecstasy 1933 she fled from her
first husband, a wealthy Austrian ammunition manufacturer, and secretly moved
to Paris. Traveling to London, she met Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio head Louis B.
Mayer, who offered her a movie contract in Hollywood. She became a film star
with her performance in Algiers 1938 Her MGM films include Lady of the Tropics
1939, Boom Town 1940, H.M. Pulham Esq and White Cargo 1942. Her greatest
success was as Delilah in Cecil B. DeMilles Bible-inspired Samson and Delilah
1949. She also acted on television before the release of her final film, The
Female Animal 1958. She was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
in 1960. Hedy Lamarr was a famous Hollywood actress and a brilliant inventor
who made significant contributions to the field of wireless communication. She
co-invented a technique called frequency hopping, which is the basis of modern
technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Frequency hopping is a method of
transmitting radio signals by rapidly switching among many frequency channels,
using a pseudorandom sequence known to both transmitter and receiver. This
makes the communication more secure and resistant to interference, jamming, and
detection. Lamarr came up with the idea of frequency hopping during World War
II, when she wanted to help the US Navy develop a radio-guided torpedo that
could not be easily jammed by the enemy. She collaborated with composer George
Antheil, who suggested using a piano roll to synchronize the frequency changes
between the transmitter and the receiver. They patented their invention in
1942, but it was not adopted by the US military until the 1960s, when it was
used in naval communication systems. Lamarr and Antheil did not receive any
recognition or compensation for their work until 1997, when they were awarded
the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award. Lamarr also became the first
female recipient of the BULBIE™ Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award, which is
considered the “Oscars” of inventing.
Hedy Lamarr born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; November 9, 1914-January 19- 2000 was an Austro-Hungarian-born American actress and inventor.She was a film star during Hollywood's Golden Age. Lamarr’s scientific contributions were largely overlooked during her lifetime, as she was more known for her beauty and acting career. She died in 2000 at the age of 85. Today, she is widely regarded as one of the most influential women in STEM history, and a role model for aspiring female inventors.
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