It may seem unreasonable to be a movie star and a scientist at the same time! This is practically impossible; one would be either engulfed by stardom and fame, or by science. To work and excel in both fields is an extraordinary feat that deserves spotlighting.
Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1914. She was interested in science since childhood; her father helped her with research and reading. Later, she often credited her father for her love for science and scientific research. In parallel, she started her acting career in her twenties in Czechoslovakia. She then moved to Paris, from there to Berlin, then to London, where she met Louis B. Mayer, Head of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, who was stunned by her beauty and her English language (besides her native German language), and offered her a contract with the Company.
Hedy agreed immediately, so Louis B. Mayer changed her surname to “Lamarr” in memory of the silent movie star Barbara La Marr. Later on, Hedy Lamarr left Europe; she left the place she was born, grown up, and dreamt, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to Hollywood, where she shot to fame thanks to her film Algiers in 1938. Lamarr reached the peak of her fame and glory with her historically immortal role in the film Samson and Delilah in 1949. One of the reasons this film was popular is that it was the first Technicolor film starring Lamarr. In the 1950s, Lamarr appeared on the cover of Time magazine, where she was described as the most beautiful woman in the world. Lamarr ended her relationship with the cinema with her last film The Female Animal in 1958, and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame in 1960.
However, neither her successful career, her splendid divine beauty, nor her overwhelming presence on the screen stop her from being one of the most important scientists and inventors in history. Austria, Germany, and Switzerland celebrate her birthday on 9 November every year, dubbing it the “Inventor’s Day” in honor of her scientific achievements.
When Hedy Lamarr was living in California, her neighbor was the famous composer George Antheil; during World War II, they worked together to create what they called “Secret Communication System”. This was a way of changing the Radio Frequency (RF) to prevent enemies from decrypting messages. This system was designed primarily to face the Nazis; in that war, radio-controlled torpedoes were not successful in hitting targets, which was a major problem. Lamarr believed that the new communications system would make it difficult to detect the torpedo and uncover its signals; it later became an important element to maintain military communications security.
In 1942, both Antheil and Lamarr were granted a patent for their innovation, which was based on the idea of designing a wireless communications system that cannot be hacked or eavesdropped on. The idea is based on changing the radio frequency carrying the signal in a random manner, so that it would be difficult for any party other than the transmitter and receiver to follow it; they named this method "frequency hopping". However, the first version of this system was strongly opposed by the US Navy and was not used at the time. This situation lasted until 1962, when the US Navy finally decided to use the system in the siege of Cuba, after the expiry of the patent according to the American law.
However, Lamarr had to wait more than 30 years to be appropriately recognized for her scientific achievement. In 1977, she was honored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for her contribution to this invention. Today, the system invented by Lamarr, in collaboration with Anthiel, is considered the cornerstone of modern communications technology based on the “spread spectrum” technique, which is the same idea behind the invention of Bluetooth technology, Wi-Fi networks, and Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), which is used to turn your mobile phone into a radio, TV, computer, notebook, and data portfolio.
As such, Hedy Lamarr carved her name in two totally different worlds that could have an indirect connection. Science and technology may serve in artistic production; on the other hand, artistic production can promote science and its achievements, but combining them together as in the case of Hedy Lamarr is unique and non-recurring. No one has forgotten the glamorous actress Hedy Lamarr, nor the inventor Hedy Lamarr; she is an icon of beauty and science that inspires all generations. Nothing stands in the face of creativity; nothing is equivalent to being a multi-talented person, nor leaving behind a useful legacy to be invested by humanity for many years after one is long gone.