Episode 16: Hedy Lamarr - A Beautiful Mind

 Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) – a mouthful, we know! But this cutting-edge wireless technology, where signals rapidly "hop" between different frequencies, is probably in your pocket right now. It's the secret sauce behind your Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth, and a vital tool for military security. Pretty cool, right?

But as usual, here on HerStance, we're about to unveil a little-known yet incredibly important aspect of this invention. Intrigued? What if we told you that the brilliant mind behind this groundbreaking technology was once known as "the most beautiful woman in the world"?

Welcome back to HerStance, where we empower women and allies by amplifying the stories of historical female trailblazers, inspiring action and collaboration for a more equitable future. Join us as we dive into the incredible, often overlooked, legacy of Hedy Lamarr – inventor, actress, and true visionary. 

#HerStancePodcast, #HedyLamarr, #HiddenFigures, #FemaleTrailblazers, #FrequencyHopping, #WirelessTechnology,#SpreadSpectrum, #WomenInSTEM, #HollywoodInventor, #TechHistory

APA: Cheslak, C. (2018, August 30). Hedy Lamarr. Retrieved from https://www.womenshistory.org/students-and-educators/biographies/hedy-lamarr

MLA: Cheslak, Colleen. “Hedy Lamarr.” Hedy Lamarr, National Women's History Museum, 30 Aug. 2018, www.womenshistory.org/students-and-educators/biographies/hedy-lamarr.

Chicago:Cheslak, Colleen. "Hedy Lamarr." Hedy Lamarr. August 30, 2018. https://www.womenshistory.org/students-and-educators/biographies/hedy-lamarr.

 Music Clips:  All Good Folks, "Something Greater"

Photo courtesy Chuck Staley

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www.linkedin.com/in/positivitymindsetgrowth

https://theleap.co/creator/herstance/

Transcript

Let’s geek out for a second. 

Frequency hopping, or frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) is a state-of-the-art method for transmitting radio signals where ‘carriers’ rapidly switch among many different frequency channels. It’s a wireless technology.  ‘Hopping’ rapidly between different frequencies should reduce the interference of the signal.

The military uses it to resist signal jamming and to implement secret transmissions with a security key.

As a civilian we use it for Wi-fi, GPS, and Bluetooth.

Cool, right?

As usual, here on HerStance, I’m here to unveil a little known but important aspect to this invention.

Intrigued?

What if I told you that the mother of this invention was once known as the most beautiful woman in the world?

Welcome back to HerStance, where we empower women and allies by amplifying the stories of historical female trailblazers, inspiring action and collaboration for a more equitable future.

Before we dig into today’s story, I want to give a special shout out to my subscribers. The podcast remains free, and I’m happy to offer this content and the companion worksheets on my digital product store for a few weeks free as well. Those are at https://theleap.co/creator/herstance/ 

In the coming months, I will be moving those companion pieces to a paid subscription and offering the extra content to my subscribers. I hope you’ll stick with me and support this important work.

Also in the works is an inspirational journal for young women and tweens full of these inspiring stories to take them on their own journeys of self discovery and social impact. If you have suggestions for stories of luminary women to include, drop me a line at contact@elevateherexistence.com.  

Now let’s get back to the program.

Hedwig Eva Kiesler, known as Hedy, was an Austrian-American actress most known for her movies produced by MGM Studios – Samson and Delilah, Boom Town, Lady of the Tropics and many others.

However, she was not just a pretty face.

She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1914 into a well-to-do Jewish family and was doted upon by her father, a bank director and a curious man, who inspired her to be curious about the world too. He would take her on long walks and talk to her about the inner workings of machines, street cars, you name it.  It is reported that at 5 years old, Hedy took apart her music box and reassembled it to understand how the machine operated.

On the other hand, her mother was a concert pianist. She introduced her to the arts, placing her in ballet and piano lessons from a young age.

Her mind was ignored, but her beauty was noticed.  Max Reinhardt, a director of the times, discovered her and he cast her in her first small film role in 1930, a German film called “Money on the Street”. She was 16. In 1932, at 18, she gained name recognition as an actress for her role in the controversial film, Ecstasy.

I’m drawing some parallels here to Brooke Shields in Blue Lagoon … look it up.

In the early 1930s, Austrian munitions dealer, Fritz Mandl, became one of Lamarr’s biggest fans. 

They married in 1933, but it didn’t last long. 

She said of the marriage that she realized quickly that she could never be an actress and his wife. He was “an absolute monarch in the marriage” and treated her like a doll, a thing, an object of art to be guarded.  She had no mind and no life of her own.  

She was forced to play host to his scandalous business partners, many of whom were associated with the Nazis. He was in a tough spot back then. Hitler was coming to power. Mandl had a monopoly on ammunition supplies to Italy, and great inroads in Poland, southern Holland, and Portugal.  But he was Jewish. He tried to distance himself from that decent. Lamarr wrote in her later memoir that both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler attended Mandl’s parties. 

Hedy escaped to London in 1937, out from under the grasp of Fritz Mandl – but remember she was a keen observer. She had listened intently to those dinner-table conversations over wartime weaponry; and those conversations would come in handy later.

In London she met Louis B Mayer, famed filmmaker of MGM Studios.   Audiences loved her grace and beauty, and her accent.

In Hollywood, she met all types of characters – including Howard Hughes.  Remember the Spruce Goose?

Let’s take a slight detour. Henry J Kaiser conceived of this large airplane, but he built ships, not aircraft. So he left Hughes to design it.

This Hughes H-4 Hercules ‘strategic airlift flying boat’ was intended for a transatlantic flight for use during World War II, but wasn’t completed in time for the war.

It never moved beyond prototype.  Have you seen this thing?  It was a huge wooden monstrosity , made of Birch, because of aluminum restrictions.  And is the largest aircraft yet built. It was supposed to carry 150,000 pounds, 750 fully equipped troops or two 30-ton M4 Sherman tanks.

Hughes and Lamarr dated for a bit, but she was most interested in his desire for innovation. She was so eager to work her brain again.  Hughes actually gave Lamarr a small set of equipment to use in her trailer on set. She actually did have an inventing table set up in her house, but now she could work on things between ‘takes’.

She actually created an upgraded stoplight and a tablet that dissolved in water to make a soda similar to Coca-Cola.

And here’s where the ultimate contribution comes to life.

In 1940 she meets George Antheil at a dinner party.  He’s a film score writer and experimental music composer. He had the same innovative spirit as Hedy.

Hedy had made all of the money, sat comfortably in Hollywood, while the war loomed in Europe – she wanted to do more with the knowledge she had from her time married to Mandl.

The two came up with an extraordinary new communication system used with the intention of guiding torpedoes to their targets in war. The system involved the use of “frequency hopping” amongst radio waves, with both transmitter and receiver hopping to new frequencies together. Doing so prevented the interception of the radio waves, thereby allowing the torpedo to find its intended target.

After its creation, Lamarr and Antheil sought a patent and military support for the invention. While awarded U.S. Patent No. 2,292,387 in August of 1942, the Navy decided against the immediate implementation of the new system.  20 years would pass before it was put to effective use by the United States Navy in torpedo guidance systems, and 40 years before it was permitted by the FCC to be used in commercial radios.

The early rejection led Lamarr to instead support the war efforts with her celebrity by selling war bonds.

 Happy in her adopted country, she became an American citizen in April 1953.

Meanwhile, the patent expired. She never saw a penny from it. And it would take years before the world would know of her contributions beyond the silver screen.

In 1997, The Electronic Frontier Foundation jointly awarded Lamarr and Antheil with their Pioneer Award.

Lamarr also became the first woman to receive the Invention Convention’s Bulbie Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award. That’s like the “Oscars” for inventions.

Finally, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame posthumously, in 2014, for the development of her frequency hopping technology. Such achievement has led Lamarr to be dubbed “the mother of Wi-Fi” and other wireless communications like GPS and Bluetooth.

What’s most interesting about that title, is that over the course of her later life, she became a bit of a recluse and the telephone was her only means of communication with the outside world.

I guess you could say that she planted the trees under whose shade she would not sit.

Look, like a lot of Hollywood actors, she married a total of 6 times, and she had 3 children. And you can find her Star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. 

But everyday, Hedy Lamar’s impact is felt in each and every one of our lives.  

What a beautiful mind. We see you Hedy!

It’s time for our HerStance Challenge

In our companion digital download found at https://theleap.co/creator/herstance/ 

I am offering a series of journal prompts for you to think about in the areas of innovation and curiosity, being underestimated, courage and perseverance and more.

Here are four examples, 

• Lamarr pursued her intellectual interests despite her demanding acting career. What is a subject or skill you'd like to learn or develop, purely for the joy of it, even if it seems "unpractical" at first glance? What small step can you take this week to begin?
• Hedy Lamarr was often primarily seen for her beauty, yet she desperately wanted to be recognized for her intellect and contributions. In what areas of your life do you feel you are underestimated or seen for only one aspect of who you are? How can you strategically showcase other facets of yourself?
• Lamarr was a successful actress, an inventor, and a mother. How do you navigate the various roles you play in your life (e.g., professional, personal, creative, familial)? What are the challenges and rewards of these different roles?
• Hedy Lamarr faced skepticism and lack of recognition for her invention for many years. Think about a time you persevered through a challenge or continued to believe in an idea despite setbacks. What kept you going?

Happy journaling!

HerStance was written, hosted, and produced by me, Sandra Koelle.

References and music credits are provided in the show notes.

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Episodes are produced twice a month to share Women’s historical contributions and their impacts connected to today’s critical issues.

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