Hedy Lamarr, secret tech queen
Sep. 22nd, 2001 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xatalantaxApparently Hedy Lamarr, wartime Hollywood star, patented a communications technology that's now used everywhere. Here's the link but the story is in this entry too ...
Peter Bond
Weekend Post
LOS ANGELES - Anthony Loder is the son of the movie goddess who should have been the richest woman on Earth. But Hedy Lamarr, who died earlier this year, gave away the patent for a revolutionary communications system that would have made her billions of dollars.
The Hollywood bombshell had brains as well as beauty. She invented a high-tech method that ensured radio transmissions could not be jammed or scanned by eavesdroppers. Today the concept is used on every digital mobile phone and employed on all military planes and warships as well as defence satellites in outer space. "My mother would have been able to buy and sell Bill Gates," said Loder, 53. "But she gave away her precious patent to the U.S. government for nothing. It was her way of saying thank you to America for taking her in after she fled Europe in the buildup to World War II."
Austrian-born Lamarr, the first woman to appear nude in a major motion picture, was married to Vienna arms dealer Fritz Mandl. He forced his young bride to quit her acting career and play hostess to his business associates, Adolf Hitler and the leading henchmen of the Third Reich. Because business was often discussed at the dinner table, Lamarr learned about weapons and warfare. She knew Hitler was planning to try to conquer Europe. She'd heard it from his own lips -- so she plotted to make her escape.
Her son said: "One evening my mother drugged her maid with sleeping pills and jumped out of an upstairs bedroom window. She made her way to Paris, then to London and finally across the Atlantic to the United States." Lamarr soon became one of the leading stars of the golden age of Hollywood, making dozens of films. She was called the most beautiful woman in the world -- but the glamorous movie siren was also determined to be known for her brains.
She'd listened to Hitler talk about the problems of radio-controlled torpedoes and how they could too easily be jammed. As a result, he never authorized their production. But once safely in America, Lamarr researched the technical dilemma he'd raised and came up with an answer -- "Frequency Hopping." If radio waves guiding a torpedo to its target could be constantly changed in a pre-set pattern with a missile's receiver then an enemy would be unable to interfere with its intended course.
Loder said: "It was a brilliant concept. It effectively meant radio signals could be transmitted in harmony making them invulnerable to interference. The only problem was she didn't know how to turn the idea into a practical reality. "Late one night she discussed her thinking with a close friend and musician, George Antheil. He was fascinated by the project and came up with an idea based on matching music notes." It was all a bit primitive, but they patented their invention in 1942.
When the United States finally entered the Second World War, Lamarr and Antheil gave the patent to the U.S. military, but the top brass failed to act on the initiative. The invention was allowed to gather dust in the archives because it was too technologically advanced for the time. Only now in the age of the cellular phone has Lamarr's once-secret system come into its own. Today it's not called Frequency Hopping, but Spread Spectrum, though the idea is the same.
And in a true twist of fate, Anthony Loder is now making a multi-million-dollar living as the boss of a mobile-phone company selling products using the very concept devised by his mother. He said: "I didn't plan it this way, but I admit it's kind of strange. I started out as a stage actor, but that life wasn't for me. I then tried movie directing and photography. I even worked as a cowboy on a Californian ranch for a couple of years. "I got into this business 20 years ago long before the boom in mobile phones. I see today the extent of my mother's idea and realize that if she'd held on to that patent I'd probably be one of the wealthiest men in the world -- worth absolute billions. "Her Frequency Hopping concept is now used on all digital phones, military aircraft and ships and in all communication satellites, including the one controlling the entire West's defence system. "That's worth a tidy few dollars."
American military chiefs first used Lamarr's secret idea during the Cuban missile crisis, exactly 20 years after she took out and gave away the patent. Loder said: "Technology had advanced and they were able to devise the means to put her idea into action. "Voice commands and digital instructions could be transmitted with total security."
He added: "As a child I never realized just how intelligent my mother was as a person. She was a movie star and very beautiful. We had magnificent homes and a very privileged lifestyle. "But I remember as a little boy opening a box in the attic and seeing this patent. At the time it meant nothing to me. It was many, many years later before she told me its significance. "Now I'm often asked whether I feel resentful that Mom never made a dime from the idea -- and the answer, of course, is 'no'. It's nice to dream and think about being the heir to what could have been one of the world's greatest fortunes, but it simply wasn't to be. She did the right thing. "We had plenty of money anyway. It was enough in later years when she was honoured by the United States Air Force and other agencies for her contribution to technical science. She died a happy woman."
Lamarr, 86, died in January this year at her home in Orlando, Fla. Her son, now president of Phones USA and who inherited US$1.8-million, said: "The end came peacefully for her. She'd enjoyed a wonderful and exciting life and was delighted so many people, mobile phone users, were benefitting from her invention. "She was a friend of Howard Hughes and could have sold the idea to him. He could have developed it privately. But she wanted the government to have it, believing it would help in the fight against Hitler. It's just a pity she was 20 years ahead of her time. "When the electronics became available, though, it was her Frequency Hopping concept the military officially adopted -- and now it's available to everyone. "It's an integral part of modern-day life and used by millions every day."
Peter Bond
Weekend Post
LOS ANGELES - Anthony Loder is the son of the movie goddess who should have been the richest woman on Earth. But Hedy Lamarr, who died earlier this year, gave away the patent for a revolutionary communications system that would have made her billions of dollars.
The Hollywood bombshell had brains as well as beauty. She invented a high-tech method that ensured radio transmissions could not be jammed or scanned by eavesdroppers. Today the concept is used on every digital mobile phone and employed on all military planes and warships as well as defence satellites in outer space. "My mother would have been able to buy and sell Bill Gates," said Loder, 53. "But she gave away her precious patent to the U.S. government for nothing. It was her way of saying thank you to America for taking her in after she fled Europe in the buildup to World War II."
Austrian-born Lamarr, the first woman to appear nude in a major motion picture, was married to Vienna arms dealer Fritz Mandl. He forced his young bride to quit her acting career and play hostess to his business associates, Adolf Hitler and the leading henchmen of the Third Reich. Because business was often discussed at the dinner table, Lamarr learned about weapons and warfare. She knew Hitler was planning to try to conquer Europe. She'd heard it from his own lips -- so she plotted to make her escape.
Her son said: "One evening my mother drugged her maid with sleeping pills and jumped out of an upstairs bedroom window. She made her way to Paris, then to London and finally across the Atlantic to the United States." Lamarr soon became one of the leading stars of the golden age of Hollywood, making dozens of films. She was called the most beautiful woman in the world -- but the glamorous movie siren was also determined to be known for her brains.
She'd listened to Hitler talk about the problems of radio-controlled torpedoes and how they could too easily be jammed. As a result, he never authorized their production. But once safely in America, Lamarr researched the technical dilemma he'd raised and came up with an answer -- "Frequency Hopping." If radio waves guiding a torpedo to its target could be constantly changed in a pre-set pattern with a missile's receiver then an enemy would be unable to interfere with its intended course.
Loder said: "It was a brilliant concept. It effectively meant radio signals could be transmitted in harmony making them invulnerable to interference. The only problem was she didn't know how to turn the idea into a practical reality. "Late one night she discussed her thinking with a close friend and musician, George Antheil. He was fascinated by the project and came up with an idea based on matching music notes." It was all a bit primitive, but they patented their invention in 1942.
When the United States finally entered the Second World War, Lamarr and Antheil gave the patent to the U.S. military, but the top brass failed to act on the initiative. The invention was allowed to gather dust in the archives because it was too technologically advanced for the time. Only now in the age of the cellular phone has Lamarr's once-secret system come into its own. Today it's not called Frequency Hopping, but Spread Spectrum, though the idea is the same.
And in a true twist of fate, Anthony Loder is now making a multi-million-dollar living as the boss of a mobile-phone company selling products using the very concept devised by his mother. He said: "I didn't plan it this way, but I admit it's kind of strange. I started out as a stage actor, but that life wasn't for me. I then tried movie directing and photography. I even worked as a cowboy on a Californian ranch for a couple of years. "I got into this business 20 years ago long before the boom in mobile phones. I see today the extent of my mother's idea and realize that if she'd held on to that patent I'd probably be one of the wealthiest men in the world -- worth absolute billions. "Her Frequency Hopping concept is now used on all digital phones, military aircraft and ships and in all communication satellites, including the one controlling the entire West's defence system. "That's worth a tidy few dollars."
American military chiefs first used Lamarr's secret idea during the Cuban missile crisis, exactly 20 years after she took out and gave away the patent. Loder said: "Technology had advanced and they were able to devise the means to put her idea into action. "Voice commands and digital instructions could be transmitted with total security."
He added: "As a child I never realized just how intelligent my mother was as a person. She was a movie star and very beautiful. We had magnificent homes and a very privileged lifestyle. "But I remember as a little boy opening a box in the attic and seeing this patent. At the time it meant nothing to me. It was many, many years later before she told me its significance. "Now I'm often asked whether I feel resentful that Mom never made a dime from the idea -- and the answer, of course, is 'no'. It's nice to dream and think about being the heir to what could have been one of the world's greatest fortunes, but it simply wasn't to be. She did the right thing. "We had plenty of money anyway. It was enough in later years when she was honoured by the United States Air Force and other agencies for her contribution to technical science. She died a happy woman."
Lamarr, 86, died in January this year at her home in Orlando, Fla. Her son, now president of Phones USA and who inherited US$1.8-million, said: "The end came peacefully for her. She'd enjoyed a wonderful and exciting life and was delighted so many people, mobile phone users, were benefitting from her invention. "She was a friend of Howard Hughes and could have sold the idea to him. He could have developed it privately. But she wanted the government to have it, believing it would help in the fight against Hitler. It's just a pity she was 20 years ahead of her time. "When the electronics became available, though, it was her Frequency Hopping concept the military officially adopted -- and now it's available to everyone. "It's an integral part of modern-day life and used by millions every day."
