“All creative people want to do the unexpected.” - Hedy Lamarr.
Dubbed ‘The most beautiful woman in film’ Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, or as she is more commonly known, ‘Hedy Lamarr’, was an actor and inventor born on November 9, 1914 in Vienna, Austria. She was the only child of Emil Kiesler, a director of the Bank of Vienna and Gertrude Kiesler, a concert pianist. Having been born into a wealthy and loving family she did not lack much emotionally nor material wise.
At the age of four, Hedy began her schooling. Hedy had private tutors teaching her several languages, she took ballet and piano lessons, and learned to play sports. Her parents put her education as a priority.
She fell in love with theater and caught the eye of Max Reinhardt who had her act in one of his plays where she began her acting journey.
Hedy went on to star in movies such as Algiers (1938), I take this Woman (1940), Come Live With Me (1941), and many more. She was a beloved actress, an 'Angelina Jolie' of her times. However, what many people did not know is that Hedy was gifted in chemistry and engineering. Hedy had dropped out of high school and as such did not have any type of formal training in the two disciplines, nevertheless her great passion drove her to learn all she could. Arguably, her most impactful invention is Frequency Hopping technology.
While she was in America, Hedy met a composer named George Antheil. The two quickly became friends and bonded over discussions about inventing and about the Second World War. Hedy being the caring young lady she was, was deeply troubled by all that was happening. She did not wish to just sit by and enjoy her life while others were suffering thus she decided to take action.
George and Hedy managed to invent and patent ‘Frequency Hopping’. Instead of broadcasting over a single channel, messages would jump seemingly at random across many channels, as such only the sender and receiver who know the channels that were being used would be able to receive and decode the message. Unfortunately, people were reluctant to use her invention. When George and Hedy approached the National Inventors council to present their device, they were refused as the council suspected that it would be too cumbersome to implement. They also denied her direct attempts to help with the war, claiming that she would make more of a difference in acting.
Hedy's patent expired before she earned anything from it. While she was a talented actor, people never acknowledged her for her creativity and innovation. It wasn't until later on that she received recognition for her invention. The Electronic Frontier Foundation named Hedy and George recipients of the Pioneer Award in 1997. Her contribution to frequency hopping technology was also recognized when the National Inventors Hall of Fame admitted Hedy in 2014.
Her contribution powers every cellphone, Bluetooth device, and wi-fi network in use today. It's rather unfortunate that she was overlooked simply because she was a woman, if she was given the resources and support she deserved I have no doubt she would have gone on to invent marvelous things.
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