Before she rose

She patented technology that changed the world — and received nothing for it. The US military used her invention only after her patent expired.

The patent she and Antheil filed in 1942 expired in 1959. The Navy began using the technology in 1962. By then, she was owed nothing. She was not acknowledged until 1997, when she was 83, and given an honorary award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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Hedy Lamarr

1914–2000 · Vienna, Austria / Hollywood, USA

Hollywood called her the most beautiful woman in the world. They forgot she invented the technology behind WiFi.

Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.

— Attributed to Hedy Lamarr

Hollywood in the 1940s knew Hedy Lamarr as the most beautiful woman in the world. What they did not know: in her home laboratory, the actress was developing a radio guidance system for torpedoes that used frequency-hopping spread spectrum — a technology that would eventually underpin WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. She and composer George Antheil patented it in 1942. The US Navy did not use it until 1962. By then, the patent had expired. She received no royalties.

Her story

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Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil patented "frequency-hopping spread spectrum" in 1942.

The technique — using rapidly changing radio frequencies to prevent interception — was designed for use in WWII torpedo guidance systems. It is now the foundational technology for WiFi, Bluetooth, CDMA cell phones, and GPS.

She attended dinner parties with aircraft designers and arms manufacturers at the home of her first husband, an Austrian arms dealer, and listened carefully.

She remembered everything. She was a scientist in the mind of a woman the world would only see as an actress. She used what she had learned.

MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer told her she should not invent things. That it distracted from her career.

She invented in private, at home, after filming. She called her laboratory her "invention table."

She said later: "I don't know why people are so reluctant to say they're curious. The word 'curious' to me is better than the word 'intelligent.'"

Curiosity was the constant. The acting, the glamour, the marriages — these came and went. The curiosity never did.

What she taught us

◈Never let anyone tell you which of your capabilities you are allowed to use.
◈The world will decide what you are. You get to decide what you do.
◈Curiosity is the most democratically distributed genius there is.

Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.

— Hedy Lamarr, Attributed to Hedy Lamarr

Her story. Your life.

A question worth sitting with

Hedy Lamarr was told to be an actress and not to invent — and she did both, in secret. What capability of yours are you keeping hidden because someone, somewhere, suggested it didn't fit the role you were assigned?

Take sixty seconds. Just sit with it.

A letter from her — to you

Dear you, I want to tell you about keeping your whole self intact. The world will offer you a role. It will tell you: this is who you are, this is what you do, this is the lane that has been built for you. The role may be wonderful — or it may be very small, or only partially you, or built on a single capability that happens to be useful to someone else. I was an actress. I was also a scientist. The world had room for the first thing. The second made them uncomfortable. I invented at a table in my home, quietly, in the hours when no one was watching. Not because I was ashamed of it. But because the world had decided what it needed from me, and what I needed from myself was different. You may be in a situation like this. There is the you that the world knows — the you that earns money, plays a role, meets an expectation. And there is another you, with other interests and capabilities and ways of thinking, that doesn't fit the frame. Please don't let the frame be final. The table where you do what you actually want to do — keep it. Use it. It doesn't matter if no one knows about it yet. The world always catches up. Sometimes it takes 50 years. Sometimes 83. With love, Hedy

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