The Hollywood star who admired her beauty and sensuality, Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000), is also remembered because one of her inventions was a precursor to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
At 19 years old, while He alternated between his engineering studies and theater studiesOrgasm was filmed in Czechoslovakia, a film that has entered history due to its orgasm sequences. She was The first woman to appear completely naked in a film.
Years later, she was forced to marry and her husband kept her locked up and isolated. this He took advantage of the opportunity to develop his engineering studies. Above all, obtaining information about weapons from her husband’s clients. With this data, years later, Patented frequency switching technology.
Always daring, Hedy ran away from home, making it to France and London, where she met one of the most powerful men in Hollywood cinema of her time: Louis B. Mayer, owner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
She became known in Hollywood as “The most beautiful woman in the world”. To the point that Snow White character Created by Disney in 1940 inspired by his almost perfect features.
Hedwig Kessler was born in Vienna, Daughter of a pianist and a banker, Who immediately noticed that the little girl had superior intelligence. She has proven this by excelling in her engineering studies.
As we said, she also studied theater, which allowed her to enter cinema and “Ecstasy”, the film that made her famous in 1933. She shot many other feature films in Germany and with fame came an offer to her. The marriage of an arms industry magnate who was a friend of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Biographers claim that Hedy did not want to marry this billionaire and that her parents forced her to do so. She later described that stage of her life as the stage of true slavery. And also the moment when he developed an invention that today deserves a new kind of appreciation.
Already in Hollywood, where her beauty outweighs her intelligence, Heidi said: “Any girl can be gorgeous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.”
After becoming a bona fide movie star, Heidi continued to develop her work as a researcher and inventor. During World War II Advanced technologies of the US Navy. Which was used against the Nazi regime thanks to its knowledge of its military techniques.
It is an invention that he patented in 1941 with composer George Antheil. It was essential for the subsequent development of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It was a radio torpedo control system that used previously unknown spread spectrum and frequency hopping techniques.
This technology was designed to prevent Nazi Germany from intercepting Allied torpedoes, since the frequency of the radio signal was constantly changing and it was necessary to know a secret key shared only by the sender and receiver.
Although its development was successful, we had to wait many years to verify it. Lamar was ahead of his time and the technology was not advanced enough To be able to put his invention into practice.
“She gave the invention to the U.S. Navy, but they did not use it because it was too complicated for its time,” a Smithsonian Magazine article said.
Over the years, Lamarr decided to retire from cinema and move away from the screen, and all her contributions to the field of technology were forgotten. He died at the age of 86.