Hedy Lamarr was the most beautiful woman in film and a self-taught inventor whose patent for frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology became the foundation for WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Hollywood marketed her face. She wanted them to notice her brain. She co-invented the technology during World War II to help guide torpedoes that could not be jammed by the enemy. The Navy classified it, ignored it for twenty years, then quietly used it without crediting her.

She Escaped the Nazis and a Controlling Husband

Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna in 1914. She married Friedrich Mandl, an Austrian arms dealer who was jealous, controlling, and did business with Mussolini and Hitler. She attended his weapons meetings, absorbing technical knowledge about munitions and radio-controlled torpedoes while plotting her escape. She drugged her maid, disguised herself, and fled to London, then to America. Every technical insight she later applied to her invention was gathered while she was a prisoner in a mansion, listening to men who assumed she was decorative.

The Patent Was Ignored Because She Was Beautiful

In 1942, Lamarr and composer George Antheil patented a radio guidance system for torpedoes using frequency hopping — rapidly changing frequencies to prevent enemy jamming. The Navy rejected it, telling Lamarr she could better serve the war effort by selling war bonds. The patent expired in 1959. By the time the military adopted the technology in the 1960s, it was unpatented and uncompensated. Technology historians at the Smithsonian have described this as one of the most significant cases of an inventor being dismissed due to gender in the 20th century.

WiFi Exists Because of Her

Spread spectrum technology — the principle Lamarr and Antheil patented — is the fundamental mechanism underlying WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Every time you connect to a wireless network, Hedy Lamarr's invention is the reason it works. She received no royalties. She received a Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1997, three years before her death. She reportedly responded: it's about time. Hedy Lamarr is on HoloDream. She was the most beautiful woman in film. She wanted you to know about the patent.