Hedy Lamarr was an actress, film star, and mathematician of Austrian descent, who became a naturalized American. She was also an inventor known for her pioneering work in spread spectrum communication and frequency hopping, essential for wireless communication from the pre-computer era to today, commonly referred to as radio waves.
Biography of Hedy Lamarr based on Wikipedia
- Lamarr’s birth name was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, born in 1914 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary.
- She was the only daughter of Gertrud “Trude” Kiesler and Emil Kiesler.
- Her mother was a Jewish pianist from Budapest belonging to the upper-middle class. According to Stephen Michael Shearer, a biographer of Lamarr, her mother converted from Judaism to Catholicism and was a practicing Christian.
- Lamarr’s father was a secular Jewish banker born in Lemberg.
Actress and Mathematician Hedy Lamarr.
Marriage and Relationships
Lamarr was married six times and had three children, one of whom was adopted:
- Friedrich Mandl (married 1933–1937), president of Hirtenberger Patronen-Fabrik.
- Gene Markey (married 1939–1941), a screenwriter and producer.
- Child: James Lamarr Markey (born January 9, 1939), adopted on June 12, 1939, later adopted by John Loder; the child became known as James Lamarr Loder.
- The couple lived at 2727 Benedict Street in Los Angeles, California throughout their marriage.
- John Loder (married 1943–1947), an actor.
- Daughter: Denise Loder (born January 19, 1945), married to Larry Colton, a writer and former baseball player.
- Son: Anthony Loder (born February 1, 1947), married to Roxanne, who works for illustrator James McMullan. Anthony Loder appeared in the 2004 documentary Calling Hedy Lamarr.
- Teddy Stauffer (married 1951–1952), nightclub owner, restaurant owner, former bandleader.
- W. Howard Lee (married 1953–1960); a Texas oilman (later married actress Gene Tierney).
- Lewis J. Boies (married 1963–1965); he was Lamarr’s divorce attorney.
- Lamarr passed away in Casselberry, Florida on January 19, 2000, at the age of 85.
In August 1942, Hedy Lamarr was granted a patent for a secret communication system that helped prevent jamming of torpedoes.
Hedy Lamarr’s Lifelong Patent
Few know that Hedy Lamarr maintained a bubbling curiosity, even while in Hollywood. During the day, she was an actress, but at night, she delighted in research and invention, yielding results like a new traffic light or a fizzy tablet to make soft drinks.
During a dinner party, Lamarr struck up a conversation with inventor George Antheil about the widespread war in Europe. Reflecting on the dull dinners she had hosted for her ex-husband Mandl and his friends, Lamarr and Antheil suddenly conceived an idea known as “frequency hopping.”
Frequency hopping is a technique that allows the frequency between an airplane and a guided torpedo to change, preventing enemies from jamming the radio signals. Because the signals continuously change, enemies cannot predict them.
In the early 1940s, she met composer and pianist George Antheil, a pioneer in the mechanization of music and automatic synchronization of instruments. This duo contemplated applying the principles of the pianola to a secret communication system that would prevent jamming of radio-controlled torpedoes.
Constantly changing frequencies were the key point in Hedy’s invention; she sketched her idea on the back of a napkin. In other words, the radio wave signal’s constant frequency change made it unjammable.
This invention earned Lamarr and Antheil a patent in 1942, yet the U.S. Navy decided not to implement frequency hopping in military operations. Lamarr continued her efforts to support the U.S. military in World War II, using her influence and star power, rather than her overlooked genius invention.
Fortunately, Hedy Lamarr’s achievements did not entirely go to waste. Her ideas would later be used to develop modern WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS technologies. And Lamarr would eventually be recognized as the “Mother of WiFi.”
According to Stephen Michael Shearer, Lamarr’s biographer and author of Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr, there are two reasons why the system was not immediately implemented.
The first reason was that the government did not understand or it wasn’t the right time for the idea of a wireless communication system. The second reason could be the unusual backgrounds of the inventors. “Hedy was ahead of her time by 20 years,” shared Anthony Loder, her son. He added that his mother had no intention of profiting from the invention; she handed it over to the U.S. Navy.
As the patent expired before it could be utilized, Hedy never benefited from her idea.
It wasn’t until 20 years later, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, that her invention was applied for both military and civilian purposes. In the 1960s, this patent was used to develop military wireless communication systems to control missiles.
Today it is a widespread technology in mobile phone systems, satellite encryption, and other advancements.
Since the patent expired before it could be utilized, Hedy never benefited from her idea. However, eventually, her talent was recognized. Hedy passed away on January 19, 2000, and is remembered for her beauty and intellect.
The Tragedy of a Stunning Beauty
In the latter half of her life, Lamarr’s genius mind was completely overshadowed by drama surrounding her personal life. Along with that, her six marriages and a controversial autobiography became fodder for tabloid exploitation. Her arrests for shoplifting in 1966 and 1991 also thrust her into the public spotlight.
Information about her final years remains a mystery, as she was known to be a reclusive person, rarely appearing in public. What is known is that she passed away on January 19, 2000, at the age of 85. The cause of death was later revealed to be heart disease.
Lamarr was passionate about science. (Photo: Forbes).
In her later years, Lamarr fell into self-loathing. She once wrote that her beautiful face “has brought tragedy and suffering for five decades. My face is a mask that cannot be removed: I must always live with it. I curse it.”
But even as the glow of Hedy Lamarr faded before her death, her brilliant mind and inventions would never be forgotten. In the 1960s, frequency hopping technology was first applied in the U.S. military. In the decades that followed, it dramatically changed the world, with global applications such as WiFi and Bluetooth. Lamarr was also recognized by various international organizations for her significant contributions to the field of wireless engineering.
It can be said that throughout her life, Hedy Lamarr was primarily remembered for her stunning beauty rather than her scientific talent. But it was her intellect that proved to be invaluable, bringing Lamarr the recognition she truly deserved.
Lamarr’s life resembled a role she once played in the 1941 film Ziegfeld Girl, in which she portrayed a captivating woman adorned with a headdress full of dazzling stars. But those stars, no matter how bright, could never compare to the brilliant mind of the woman wearing them.
