Photo By Alexandra Shea | Actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr’s naturalization card circa April 10, 1953 (Records...... read more read more
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In March we celebrate the contributions of women and the impact they have had on the military and the world during Women’s History Month. While there have been a great many women who have impacted our lives in the military, I would like to share the story of golden age actress Hedy Lamarr.
Born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria-Hungry, in 1914, she married wealthy Austrian munitions dealer Friedrich Mandl shortly after starting her acting career.
In her autobiography, she claimed her husband to be a controlling man who prevented her acting career from taking flight and insisted she instead played the role of hostess during lavish parties held at their home where Hitler, Mussolini and their supporters attended. Later in life, her husband would go on to supply munition to the Nazi party.
Jewish born and upset by her husband’s support of the Nazi party, she left her life of wealth by disguising herself and one of her maids and fled to Paris. Soon after arriving, she traveled to London to start over and met Louis B. Mayer of MGM Studios. So impressed by her beauty and grace, she was on her way to Hollywood where she would reinvent herself as Hedy Lamarr. She divorced her husband in 1938.
In the public’s eye, she was the 1940’s headlining movie star of golden age films such as Algiers, Lady of the Tropics, Sampson and Delilah, and A Lady Without a Passport. In her private life though, Lamarr was an amateur inventor who dated businessman and pilot Howard Hughes. She even helped him design wings for one of his planes, she took the inspiration from books about fish and birds.
As the U.S. entered World War II, Lamarr met George Antheil at a dinner party. Known for his writing, film scores and musical compositions, he too was an amateur inventor. The two teamed up to see what they could invent together to help win the war against axis powers.
Together, they invented a unique communication system that allowed a radio transmitter and receiver to hop across multiple radio frequencies together that would guide torpedoes to their intended targets without interference from enemy forces.
The two applied for and were awarded U.S. Patent No. 2,292,387 for their technology. They also sought military support but were rejected at the time by the Navy.
Little did the Navy know at the time, this technology would become present day spread-spectrum communication technology and the basis for Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth. The Navy came around though in 1942 and adopt the technology and use it during the Cuban blockade in 1962.
Though rejected, Lamarr would use her celebrity status to sell war bonds to help war efforts while continuing her acting career.
Lamarr would marry and divorce six more times and become a mother to three before passing at the age of 86 from heart failure.
Throughout her life, Lamarr would continue inventing things that included an upgraded stoplight and a tablet that when dissolved in water created a drink that tasted similar to Coca-Cola. She was publicly awarded the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award in 1997 and inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014, earning her the moniker, ‘Mother of Wi-Fi.’
Soldiers today can understand the importance of Lamarr’s work each time they ‘fill a radio.’ Her technology ensures Soldiers across the battlefield can communicate using radios that are resistant to jamming, eves dropping or fading.
So this week, we salute Hedy Lamarr for her spread-spectrum communications technology and its ability to enable Soldiers to complete their missions.
Facts used in this piece were taken from Nation Achieves and the National Women’s History Museum. To learn more about Lamarr and that of more prominent women, visit www.womenshistory.org/.
| Date Taken: | 03.14.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.16.2022 13:09 |
| Story ID: | 416576 |
| Location: | FORT JACKSON, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 435 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The immigrant, actress who would become the ‘Mother of Wi-Fi’, by Alexandra Shea, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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