Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr Inventor of the First Wireless Communication(born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) a Silver Screen Actress also became a pioneer in the field of wireless communications following her emigration to the United States. Hedy was an international beauty icon and the co-inventor with George Anthiel. They developed a “Secret Communications System” to help combat the Nazis in World War II. They did this by manipulating radio frequencies at irregular intervals between transmission and reception, the invention formed an unbreakable code to prevent classified messages from being intercepted by enemy personnel. To think, this is where wireless first began.
Lamarr and Anthiel received a patent in 1941, but the enormous significance of their invention was not realized until decades later. It was first implemented on naval ships during the Cuban Missile Crisis and subsequently emerged in numerous military applications. But most importantly, the “spread spectrum” technology that Lamarr helped to invent would set the stage for the digital communications boom we have today, forming the technical backbone that makes cellular phones, fax machines and other wireless operations possible.
As is the case with many of the famous women inventors, Lamarr received very little recognition of her innovative talent at the time, but recently she has been showered with praise for her groundbreaking invention. In 1997, she and George Anthiel were honored with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award. And later that same year, Lamarr would become the first female recipient of the BULBIE™ Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award, a prestigious lifetime accomplishment prize for inventors that is dubbed “The Oscar™ of Inventing.”
Proving she was much more than just another pretty face, Lamarr shattered stereotypes and earned a place among the 20th century’s most important women inventors. She truly was a visionary whose technological was far ahead of its time. Look where wireless communication has come from 1941 to 2014. Lamarr was truly ahead of her time and invented a system that has proven to last a lifetime and beyond.
Reference Famous Women Inventors
Reference Featured Photo: http://www.biography.com/people/hedy-lamarr-9542252#awesm=~oF9wEYxmvQU9Bm