08/07/2023
“WOMEN IN SCIENCE - WHO KNEW?”
Don’t Judge a Book By It’s Cover - Hedy Lamarr.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the NETFLIX Documentary “BOMBSHELL”.
I had avoided it for weeks, as the title turned me off. I was wrong. Way wrong. Watch it.
It’s the story of Hedy Lamarr: Hollywood Actress and Brilliant Scientist. The latter, publicly unknown until recently.
Hedy Lamarr was a Hollywood actress and inventor from Vienna, Austria, who developed “Frequency Hopping” — The technology behind WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS.
The patent for this technology was granted as U.S. Patent 2,292,387 on August 11, 1942, for Torpedo Control, under her married name Hedy Kiesler Markey. Its ownership would subsequently be confiscated by the US Military.
Until recently, her legacy was nothing short of shallow. She was one of the many beautiful actresses, just as Vivian Leigh, (Scarlett O’Hara) who graced the screen during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Yet, in reality, historians should write Hedy Lamarr into history books as one of the most influential figures in the field of modern technology.
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Her last recorded comments of her philosophy of life are a humble tribute to her brilliant, incredibly humanitarian ethos:
“People are unreasonable, illogical, and self centered.
*Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, alternative motives.
*Do good anyway.
The biggest people with the biggest minds can be shot down.
But seldom are the smallest people with the smallest minds.
*Think big anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
*Build anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and you will be kicked into the teeth.
*Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.”
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Hedy Lamarr is a most brilliant scientist who developed in 1942, a game changing technology that revolutionized military abilities.
It would not be until 1990, that her brilliant technological contribution would be publicly reported.
She died shortly after New Years Day 2000.
Penniless at the end, she was never compensated for her invention. The market value of her invention today is an estimated $30 billion
Hedy Lamarr‘s “Frequency Hopping” invention is now the basis for secure Wi-Fi, Bluetooth cell phone, GPS and military remote weapons control technology
Her inventive genius was not fully scientifically recognized until 1997, when the Electronic Frontier Foundation awarded Hedy and Antheil the “Pioneer Award”.
Yet, her greatest wish was to be recognized for her contribution to humankind.
“Never judge a book by its cover.”
AND NEVER JUDGE…
A woman by her looks alone.
Brian