"Publicity photo for Comrade X, 1940." Wikimedia Commons

You wouldn't think that the mother of WiFi was a dazzling Hollywood star, but such was the extraordinary life of Hedy Lamarr.

Born in Austria in 1914, Hedy's journey to stardom began at a young age. However, her true passion lay beyond acting; she was captivated by science and technology. She was fascinated by the world of science and technology, always eager to explore new ideas and concepts.

Hedy had the opportunity to meet many influential characters in Hollywood, including businessman and pilot Howard Hughes. Hughes was delighted by Hedy’s mind and spirit, and provided her with a small set of equipment to use in her trailer on set. With Hughes' encouragement, Hedy had the opportunity to tinker and invent between takes and even visited airplane factories to learn from the scientists who worked there.

As World War II loomed, Hedy became increasingly concerned about the war effort. She realized that radio-controlled torpedoes, an emerging technology, could easily be jammed, jeopardizing military operations. Turning to her friend George Antheil, a composer with an inventive spirit, they collaborated on a groundbreaking invention. When George recalled their first meeting almost a year prior, he noted Hedy’s concerns about the war and the potential role she could play:

"We began talking about the war, which, in the late summer of 1940, was looking most extremely black. Hedy said that she did not feel very comfortable, sitting there in Hollywood and making lots of money when things were in such a state. She said that she knew a good deal about munitions and various secret weapons... and that she was thinking seriously of quitting MGM and going to Washington, DC, to offer her services to the newly established Inventors' Council."

The two would come together in 1941 and develop a groundbreaking invention that would revolutionize communication: frequency hopping spread spectrum technology. Their system continuously switches the frequency of radio signals, making them nearly impossible to intercept or jam.

Though their invention, patented on August 11, 1942, was a game changer for a world at war, the U.S. Navy was wary about using inventions outside of the military. They wouldn’t use the technology until the 1960’s, when an updated version of their design would appear on Navy ships during the Cuban missile crisis.

Sadly, Hedy’s invention would remain underappreciated for decades. Engineers didn’t begin to explore the potential of frequency hopping in telecommunications until the 1950s, and while Hedy’s invention has become the foundation of modern wireless communication technologies— including WiFi— she would never see a penny from her work.

In 1997, Hedy finally received public acknowledgment when both she and George received the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award and the Bulbie Gnass Spirit of Achievement Bronze Award. Hedy was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the development of her frequency hopping technology in 2014.

In the spirit of Women’s History Month, let's honor Hedy's legacy and acknowledge her pioneering contribution to the (very convenient) world we live in today!

Sources:
"Hedy Lamarr: Hollywood Star and Secret Inventor" by Alan Sutton, published in Smithsonian Magazine. Available online at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hedy-lamarr-4850074/

"The Surprising Story of Hedy Lamarr, the Hollywood Star Who Helped Invent Wi-Fi" by Emily Temple, published in Literary Hub. Available online at: https://lithub.com/the-surprising-story-of-hedy-lamarr-the-hollywood-star-who-helped-invent-wi-fi/

"How movie star Hedy Lamarr helped invent the technology behind Wi-Fi" by Miriam Kramer, published in Mashable. Available online at: https://mashable.com/article/hedy-lamarr-google-doodle/