Hedy Lamarr
Katlyn Giesler
Quick Info
Although better known for her Silver Screen exploits, Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr also became know for in the field of wireless communications. The international beauty icon, along with co-inventor George Antheil, developed a "Secret Communications System" to help combat the Nazis in World War II.
Background Information
Hedy Lamarr was the screen name for which the actress was known by. She was born on the 9th of November in 1914 to parents Emil Kiesler and Gertrud Kesler in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Her birth name was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. She was 17 when she first appeared in a film which was called Geld Auf Der Strase Lamarr had a successful career in entertainment and was known as “the most beautiful woman in films” back in those days. She even had an autobiography called “Ecstacy and Me” which discussed her private life. Lamarr was married six times. She adopted a son, James, in 1939 during her second marriage Gene Markey. She went on to have two biological children, Denise (b. 1945) and Anthony (b. 1947), with her third husband, actor John Loder, who also adopted James. She then moved to California after marrying her first husband and met her neighbor George Anthiel
Her Invention
Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil, received a patent for an idea of a radio signaling device, or "Secret Communications System," which was a of changing radio frequencies to keep enemies from decoding messages. Originally designed to defeat the German Nazis, the system became an important step in the development of technology to maintain the security of military communications. Today, the work done by Lamarr and Antheil is the basis for the modern spread-spectrum communication technology. It is the idea behind Bluetooth, Wi-Fi connections, and CDMA.