Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian American actress and inventor who pioneered the technology that would one day form the basis for today’s Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth communication systems. Born Hedwig Eva Kiesler in Vienna to a Jewish family, she began studying acting in Berlin and appeared on stage and in films. 

Lamarr became a film star with her performance in the romantic drama Algiers (1938), and achieved further success with Western Boom Town (1940) and White Cargo (1942). Lamarr’s most successful film was Samson and Delilah (1949). 

Entirely self-taught, she invested her spare time in designing and drafting inventions, which included an improved traffic stoplight, aircraft wings inspired by fast-moving birds and fish, and a tablet that dissolved in water to create a flavored carbonated drink. 

At the beginning of World War II, with composer George Antheil, Lamarr co-invented a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of radio jamming by the Axis powers. Though a patent was granted in 1942, the U.S. Navy did not use the invention because it was too large to fit in a torpedo; it remained classified until 1981. Lamarr and Antheil’s invention had a significant impact on the course of electronic communications technology. 

In 1997, Lamarr and Antheil were jointly honored with the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award, and Lamarr was the first woman to receive the Invention Convention’s BULBIE Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award, known as the “Oscar of inventing.” She was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.