Tag: Hedy Lamarr

On August 11, 1942,  U.S. Patent 2,292,387 for  the “Secret Communications System” was granted to George Anthiel and his neighbor Hedy Kiesler Markey who was better known as actress Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr was once called the  “most beautiful woman in Europe,” and often referred to as the most gorgeous and exotic of Hollywood’s leading ladies! The patent was for a device  which would use frequency-hopping to avoid jamming of a things like radio controlled torpedoes. The device used a piano roll to unpredictably chnge the signal sent between a control center and the torpedo at short bursts within a range of 88 frequencies in the radio-frequency spectrum. the specific code for the sequence of frequencies would be held identically by the controlling ship and the torpedo. It would be practically impossible for the enemy to scan and jam all 88 frequencies, as this would require too much power or complexity. The frequency-hopping sequence was controlled by a player-piano mechanism, which Anthiel had earlier used to score his Ballet Mécanique
The design of the device was considered so vital to national defense that government officials would not allow publication of its details. However, the device soon met with opposition from the Navy and was never adopted. The idea of the device was implemented though in 1962 by US military ships during the blockade of Cuba, after the patent had expired. The frequency hopping system designed by Anthiel and Lamarr was an important step in the development of technology to maintain the security of both military communications and cellular phones. In 1997, fifty-five years after receiving their patent Lamarr and Anthiel were honored with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award, and that same year Lamarr became the first female to receive the BULBIE™ Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award, considered “The Oscars” of inventing. From Biography.com… Read More