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Hedy Lamarr Filmography
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Hedy Lamarr: Secret Communications System
Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil received patent number 2,292,387 for their "Secret Communications System." This early version of frequency hopping used a piano roll to change between 88 frequencies and was intended to make radio-guided torpedoes harder for enemies to detect or to jam. The patent was little-known until recently because Lamarr applied for it under her then-married name of
Hedy Kiesler Markey. Neither Lamarr nor Antheil made any money from the patent. The U.S. military did not adopt this technology until 1962.
Lamarr wanted to join the National Inventors Council but was told she could better help the war effort by using her celebrity status to sell war bonds. She once raised $7,000,000 at one event.
Lamarr's frequency hopping technology served as the basis for modern "spread-spectrum wireless" technology used in devices ranging from cordless phones to WiFi internet connections.
In 2003 Boeing ran a series of recruitment ads featuring Hedy Lamarr as a woman of science. No reference to her film career was made in the ads.
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