5 unexpected facts about Hedy Lamarr

In 1933 she became a wife of an arms manufacturer named Friedrich Mand. In this marriage she had everything except freedom. She was afraid of her powerful husband. To break off the relationship Hedy decided to run away. Her escape was like the final scene of an adventure film. She escaped dressed as a maiden to never come back. She moved to the USA and became a Hollywood star.

When Lamarr was in her early 20s, she learned the details of military technology from her first husband and later used this knowledge in the development of the frequency hopping method. Teaming with a composer George Antheil, Lamarr got a patent on their innovation in 1942. The invention was ahead of its time.

Though Lamarr's method of transmitting radio signals was great, military specialists refused to use it as it was created by a pretty actress. She was disappointed with the fact people judged her by her looks. The invention was used only in 1960 after her patent expired.

The frequency hopping method provided the basis for the development of spread-spectrum technology which has a wide field of applications ranging from Wi-Fi to satellites.

That was the reason why she rarely signed autographs.

That happened in 1960 for her contribution to the film industry. As for her contribution to science, it was recognized only after her death. She died in 2000 and 14 years after Lamarr and Antheil were posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for their frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology.