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In 1942 the actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil patented a way to stop radio-controlled torpedoes being jammed, by hopping the signal across frequencies. The same principle underlies wifi, GPS and Bluetooth.

Hedy Lamarr (1914–2000)

TechnologyBiography

Why it matters

The idea in context

Lamarr was billed as the most beautiful woman in the world and was bored by the parts she was given; she kept an inventing table at home. The frequency-hopping idea came with a mechanism synchronised by piano rolls — Antheil's contribution — and the US Navy filed the patent away unused. It expired before it earned either of them anything. Related techniques became fundamental to secure and shared wireless communication, and she was finally inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014, fourteen years after her death.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

1942'de oyuncu Hedy Lamarr ve besteci George Antheil, sinyali frekanslar arasında sektirerek radyo kumandalı torpidoların karıştırılmasını önleyen bir yöntemin patentini aldı. Aynı ilke wifi, GPS ve Bluetooth'un temelinde yatıyor.
Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000)

Lamarr dünyanın en güzel kadını diye tanıtılıyordu ve kendisine verilen rollerden sıkılıyordu; evinde bir icat masası tutardı. Frekans atlama fikri, piyano ruloları ile eşzamanlanan bir mekanizmayla geldi — Antheil'in katkısı — ve ABD Donanması patenti kullanmadan rafa kaldırdı. Patent, ikisine de bir şey kazandırmadan süresi doldu. İlgili teknikler güvenli ve paylaşımlı kablosuz iletişimin temeli oldu ve o, ölümünden on dört yıl sonra, 2014'te nihayet Ulusal Mucitler Onur Listesi'ne alındı.

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Background reading: Hedy LamarrAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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