Hedy Lamarr
Not just a pretty face, she was the Hollywood star who revolutionised wireless technology.
It is Women’s History Month and let’s dive in with a woman who made history - and hours of scrolling mini-videos - possible…
You might remember Hedy Lamarr as a glamorous actress from Hollywood’s Golden Age, but few recognize her as a brilliant inventor whose work laid the foundation for modern wireless communication. She was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Austria in 1914 and she had an early fascination with science and engineering, despite being told her lot in life was to pursue a career in the arts. Her intelligence, curiosity, and determination eventually led her to develop a groundbreaking invention that would change the world — but for much of her life, her contributions went unrecognised. Quelle surprise.
No one is holding this girl back…
As a child in Vienna, Lamarr showed a keen interest in technology from a young age. It was her father, a bank director with a passion for explaining how machines worked, who encouraged her intellectual curiosity. However, as a young woman, she was pushed into acting (because that’s obviously the goal for all girls, right?) and quickly gained fame in Europe. By the early 1930s, she was already rejecting the passive, sweet actress she could have become, and was starring in controversial films, including Ecstasy (1933), which featured one of the first depictions of female orgasm in cinema.
Enter man. At 19, she married Fritz Mandl, a wealthy Austrian arms dealer with close ties to fascist regimes. Through him, she was exposed to discussions about advanced weaponry and military communications, which would later inspire her greatest invention. However, Mandl was controlling and possessive, and Lamarr eventually escaped their marriage by fleeing to Paris. From there, she traveled to London, where she met MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, who offered her a contract in Hollywood.
Frequency hopping
Arriving in Hollywood, Lamarr became an overnight sensation, often cast as the “exotic” beauty in films like Algiers (1938) and Samson and Delilah (1949). She worked alongside some of the biggest stars of her time, including Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and Victor Mature. Yes, she was successful in films, but she found acting unfulfilling and spent much of her free time working on inventions in her private laboratory.
During World War II, Lamarr was deeply troubled by the growing threat posed by Nazi forces, particularly their ability to jam radio-controlled torpedoes used by Allied forces. Drawing from her knowledge of military technology gained during her marriage to Mandl, it is said that conceived the idea of a frequency-hopping spread spectrum system. This method involved rapidly switching radio frequencies to prevent enemy forces from intercepting or jamming signals. Further research shows that Lamarr didn't invent frequency hopping, she moulded a variant.
It was made by a…civilian woman?
Lamarr collaborated with composer and inventor George Antheil, who had experience with automated control systems in player pianos. Together, they developed a system that synchronized frequency changes between a transmitter and a receiver, ensuring secure military communications. In 1942, they received a patent for their “Secret Communication System.”
Although their invention had the potential to revolutionise wartime communication, the U.S. Navy initially dismissed it as impractical, largely due to biases against civilians and, perhaps, mostly the idea that a Hollywood actress could make a meaningful scientific contribution. It wasn’t until the 1960s, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, that the military began to adopt frequency-hopping technology.
Legacy and recognition
The principles behind Lamarr and Antheil’s work later became the foundation for modern wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.
For decades, Lamarr’s contributions remained in obscurity, overshadowed by her film career and the societal bias that often prevented women from receiving recognition in STEM fields. After all, it was a woman’s job to smile and to look pretty, right? It wasn’t until 1997—over 50 years after her patent was filed—that she was honoured with the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award. In 2014, she was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Lamarr defied the stereotype of the “beautiful actress” and left behind a legacy that continues to shape the modern world. Though she did not receive the recognition she deserved in her lifetime, her contributions to technology are now widely celebrated. Her work proves that innovation knows no bounds, and her story serves as an inspiration for women in science and technology today.
The next time someone says “smile, love,” just tell them you are contemplating ways in which your scientific endeavours can create a giant leap in modern technology that might serve billions of people.
Where can you teach about her?
In the science curriculum and in the DT curriculum
If you have an engineering course, she might come up there
As part of Women’s History Month
As part of a pastoral series on overcoming barriers
Useful links:
https://standards.ieee.org/beyond-standards/hedy-lamarr/
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/random-paths-to-frequency-hopping