By Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek
Most of you have probably heard or seen photos of the late, great film star Hedy Lamarr who is still considered one of the most beautiful actresses from the 1930′s and.40′s. But did you know the original idea and patent that led to cellular phone technology came from her?
The idea itself was not new, but her concept of “frequency hopping ” was. Lamarr thought the idea of radio control would be beneficial in order to defeat the enemy from monitoring the signals of our military. The invention in theory utilizes a system whereby the radio frequencies would change intermittently and simultaneously between the transmitter and receiver. It was difficult to design a way for this to be accomplished but Lamarr’s friend and composer George Anthei, suggested using something similar to piano rolls, from player pianos, to keep both sides in synch. Together, he and Lamarr patented the “Secret Communication System” in 1942.
When the transistor did become available the Navy used the idea in secure military communications and when transistors became inexpensive the idea was used in cellular phone technology. By the time the Navy used the idea however, the original patent Lamarr and Anthei had received had expired and the two never received any royalty payments for their idea.
Lamar refused to admit she had any thing to do with the invention of this technology and would not be interviewed on the subject and has never publicly confirmed. In 1997 Lamarr was honored with an award at the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference for “blazing new trails on the electronic frontier.” Hedy Lamarr died on January 19, 2000 .
Information on Hedy Lamar taken from .Mothers of Invention. by Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek, and www.inventions.org.