Inventor Of The Month
A Glamorous Geek
Hedy Lamarr - Inventor of the “Secret Communication System”
Nomi Lewkowicz
Given Name: Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler
Birthday: November 9, 1914
Birth Place: Vienna, Austria
Date of Death: January 19, 2000
Place of Death: Orlando, Florida
Invention’s Original Purpose: To make it harder for
enemies to jam missiles by constantly changing the
frequency waves A.K.A. Frequency Hopping. That
way, there would be no particular pattern for the
jammers to track. Current applications are wireless
phones, Bluetooth networks, GPS devices, and most military communications.
Hedy Lamarr, a Jew from Austria, fled to the United States in the late 1930’s, already with an MGM contract. She fled to get away from her Nazi husband who kept her imprisoned in her own house. Along with leaving him, she also left with many Nazi secrets and technological knowledge. Over the years, she acted and appeared in many classic movies. Her nickname was “The Most Beautiful Woman In Films”. During her free time, she would invent. Her most famous invention is the “Secret Communication System”. The inspiration for this invention was the self-playing piano. Along with composer George Antheil, they invented the system. The U.S. Navy turned down the idea, but later on other inventors, who took the idea to new heights, used it. She was certainly one Glamorous Geek!
Do you want to learn more about Hedy? Visit her official website:
"The world isn't getting any easier. With all these new inventions I believe that people are hurried more and pushed more... The hurried way is not the right way; you need time for everything - time to work, time to play, time to rest."
Hedy Lamarr
Photo: Publicity photo 1942, from Wikipedia.org