It is arguable, but I am going with Hedy Lamarr. That's right, the classic screen beauty was definitely not just another pretty face. She was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna in 1913. She was discovered by Loius B. Mayer and worked with the like of Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Bob Hope and Cecille B. DeMille. But did you know she came up with the frequency-hopping shared-spectrum idea. Initially she thought she could make radio controlled torpedos harder to jam if the guidance system erratically changed between 88 frequencies. You can look up the patent if you want (US Patent 2,292,387) And that alone would be notable for the Hollywood beauty. However, in true silver screen fashion, the story gets better. Lamarr's frequency hopping idea serves as the basis for modern spread spectrum communication technologies like blue tooth, WiFi and CDMA. So next time you are walking down the street, listening to your smart phone give you directions through your ear bud, thank Hedy.
5 comments:
If I recall correctly, she used matching player piano rolls to select the frequency on the transmitter and receiver. I thought that was pretty resourceful.
That coupld have made the song "Ragtime Gal" a state secret.
Exactly right. Her first husband was big (for the time) cutting edge weapons manufacturer in Austria. She did a lot more that sit there and look pretty when he talked shop, I guess.
That's "Hedley" ...
;-)
Beans around the campfire . . .
hey there
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