HEDY LAMARR, INSPIRATIONAL INVENTOR/ACTRESS
Ah, yes, when we think of late August or September we may still be thinking of vacations and warmer temps, and places to go. And we may “research” said vacations on the run, on our so-called smartphones.
Or perhaps we want to look back fondly on an experience we had over the summer, off to some faraway place, idea, experience. Or, if it already September, your or a family member may be going off to college. And if in college, have you any idea what you want to study and who you’d like to be like?
What about Hedy Lamarr?
Hedy Lamarr was a famous actress of the Hollywood screen from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. She was considered the “most beautiful” actress of her time. But by her fifties, she was experimenting with plastic surgery and wasn’t so beautiful then.
But what she “should” be remembered for was her brains. Though she fled from a rich husband and dull life in Austria for the glitz of Hollywood, she wanted more, so much more. And she had an idea.
It was during World War II that this young woman, encouraged to have an interest in science by her father, came up with an idea. Together,with artist George Anthiel, they came up with the idea of the “frequency hopping” method on the air waves. They tried to get the U. S. Navy interested in this idea, to help jam torpedo signals. The Navy thought they were nuts.
By 1955 the Navy “did” use her idea — and didn’t tell her about it! Much later in life she learned this, and that her patent for her idea had expired. Now this technology is used in smartphones and WIFI. Yes, a woman came up with this technology, and it wasn’t till almost the end of her life that she and Anthiel were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2014). She died in 2000, at 85.
(Great Amer. Idea) Lamarr’s life is one of fascination, invention, and just plain GIRL POWER! She is an inspiration to any girl or young woman out there.
Read more about her in the book “Women in Science” by Rachel Ignotofsky at amazon or at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/women-in-science-rachel-ignotofsky/1137949832?ean=9780593377642
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