In the 40s and 50s, actresses in Hollywood were often written off as merely beautiful women. However, these actresses had much more intellect and tenacity than portrayed. One day, I was watching Timeless, a show from 2016 about a group of time travelers who try to protect the timeline from evil forces and sometimes meet historical figures in the process. In the episode, they went back into the 50s and met a real actress from the time: Heddy Lamarr. I had never heard of Heddy Lamarr, and was surprised to learn that she was an incredible inventor and engineer apart from being a famous actress in Hollywood. In honor of National Women’s History Month, I’m going to tell you a bit about the woman who paved the way for wifi, bluetooth, and GPS.
Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress who was the daughter of a concert pianist and bank director. Although she went to acting school and was well known mostly for her beauty, Hedy’s father would often talk to her about the inner workings of machinery. After escaping a toxic marriage in Austria by moving to England in the late 30’s, Lamarr was brought to Hollywood when she met someone who worked at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. There, she met many curious characters, including Howard Hughes. Howard Hughes was an eccentric man who engineered planes and brought Lamarr to his factories where she provided incredible improvements and advice to make the planes faster.
As World War II loomed, Heddy felt that she should be doing something to help combat the Axis forces while making films in Hollywood. To solve the problem of the Axis powers blocking their radio-controlled missiles, Heddy Lamarr invented the “Secret Communication System”. By using frequency hopping between radio waves, Lamarr invented a way to allow torpedoes to find their intended target. After patenting the idea in 1942, the U.S. Navy decided against using the system. In response, Lamarr set up charities to sell war bonds to contribute in another fashion. Unfortunately, Heddy’s patent expired before she was able to receive a profit from her work. Only in 1997 was Heddy Lamarr’s genius recognized and celebrated with the Pioneer Award and Invention Convention’s Bulbie Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award.
Heddy Lamarr passed away in 2000, but was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014 as the scientist who paved the way for Wifi, GPS, and Bluetooth. It was the work of a 40’s and 50’s actress who provided the crucial blueprint for military and cell phone industry technology.
Although Heddy Lamarr did receive awards for her work years after developing it, her name is still not well known in the general media. I was surprised I had never learned about her in school considering how her technology developed to aid so many different branches of technology. Her tenacity, intellect, and perseverance in both her personal and professional lives inspire me to this day. Hopefully by reading this article and looking at the resources below, you can explore and spread awareness about Heddy Lamarr’s achievements a bit more. Happy National Women’s History Month!
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/hedy-lamarr