Andrew ThompsonFeb 28, 2023
Sheril Kirshenbaum

Born in 1914, Hedy Lamarr was a famous American actress who pioneered the technology that would lead to WiFi, GPS, cell phones & Bluetooth communication.

Lamarr was brilliant. Among many fascinating inventions, she developed a new communication system with composer George Antheil that used “frequency hopping” among radio waves.

Once called the “most beautiful woman in the world," Lamarr is now remembered as "the mother of Wi-Fi."

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/thank-world-war-ii-era-film-star-your-wi-fi-180971584/ #science #history #HistoryRemix

Thank This World War II-Era Film Star for Your Wi-Fi

As the National Portrait Gallery acquires a film poster of Hedy Lamarr, it’s worth reflecting on her double life as an actress and a pioneering inventor

Smithsonian Magazine
Feb 20, 2023 at 11:22amWeb
Show threadራስ ባሪያው Rass BariawFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril 🧐🗝️
Show threadPaulFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril if you are going to make a point of her nationality, please also mention that she was born in Austria and moved to the US as an adult.
Show threadSheril KirshenbaumFeb 20, 2023

@PaulDelaustro These posts always start much longer & details are lost to fit.

Lamarr's story is especially fascinating & I encourage everyone to read more. She is truly incredible. And yes, she was an Austrian-American Jewish immigrant.

Show threadPattacakekFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril @PaulDelaustro
That was a very gracious reply.
Show threadchulsFeb 20, 2023
@PaulDelaustro @Sheril Haha my Austrian self was a bit like... wait a minute. American actress?
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈Feb 20, 2023
@PaulDelaustro @Sheril
Well, she was actually born in Austria-Hungary...
Show threadJugger1511Feb 21, 2023
@PaulDelaustro @Sheril her nationality was since 1953 American. That's the Point. She decided to be american. Your opinion doesn't matter.
Show threadPaulFeb 21, 2023
@jugger1511 @Sheril Where sh was born is fact, not opinion. And it supports your point. Have a nice day.
Show threadJugger1511Feb 21, 2023
@PaulDelaustro @Sheril her place of Born is Not The Point for her nationality.
Show threadPaulFeb 21, 2023
@jugger1511 @Sheril She was Austrian for the first 38 years of her life, including when she invented the precursor to wi-fi and made her greatest movies, and you are going to ignore that. ok.
Show threadJugger1511Feb 21, 2023
@PaulDelaustro @Sheril yes, it doesn't matter. She was American, that's the only fact that matters.
Show threadJugger1511Feb 21, 2023
@PaulDelaustro @Sheril her father was Born in Lemberg,her mother in Budapest. Let's make her ukrainian and hungarian too in Order to please The nacionalists in this countries.
Show threadPaulFeb 21, 2023
@jugger1511 @Sheril I am sorry that you are ashamed of your heritage. Clearly english is not your first language. Enjoy living in denial.
Show threadXilian SalgadoFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril and Tesla experimented with it it heavily giving her credit at the time, only to still be ignored at the time...
Show threadTiong-seah Yap (Bear)Feb 20, 2023
@Sheril Good to know about ˋ Mother of WiFi ´. 🤓
Show threadTiong-seah Yap (Bear)Feb 20, 2023
@Sheril and Wifi-6 should pay the tribute to her.
Show threadOSIRISFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril We named one of the conference rooms in our previous office after her (Grace Hopper, Nikolai Tesla and Alan Turing were some of the others)
Show threadGyzXFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril Yes, together with the Insulin and the orgasm
Show threadARnS TechFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril Really the most beautiful woman in the world...
Show threadAV MBFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril
Bluetooth uses frequency hopping. Original WIFI (802.11 back in 1990s) did use frequency hopping. GPS does not use frequency hopping. I think GSM cellular (back in the day) used frequency hopping. We belittle her amazing accomplishments by exaggerating them. They don't need to be exaggerated: they're awesome already.
Show threadStefan SchollFeb 20, 2023

@Sheril
Kimberly Moravec comes to a different conclusion: https://kimberlymoravec.medium.com/no-hedy-lamarr-did-not-make-wi-fi-92ac4956b9e

“So Hedy Lamarr wasn’t involved in the development of the Wi-Fi protocol, she wasn’t the first to think up frequency hopping, and frequency hopping isn’t used in modern Wi-Fi in any case.”

No, Hedy Lamarr did not ‘make’ Wi-Fi - Kimberly Moravec - Medium

Why she wasn’t a science genius and how Wi-Fi really got made. “No, Hedy Lamarr did not ‘make’ Wi-Fi” is published by Kimberly Moravec.

Medium
Show threadFrank CoteFeb 20, 2023
@Stefan_S_from_H @Sheril wow! Nicely written article. Thanks Stefan.
Show threadYusuf ToropovFeb 20, 2023

@Sheril who knew? Breakthrough nude scene AND the mother of the remote workplace. I celebrate both. #hedylamarr

https://youtu.be/5qI_nxU9zHc

Hedy LAMARR (http://blog-des-auteurs-libres.over-blog.com/2016/)

YouTube
Show threadEagle Globe & FlankerFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril Smarts and Beautiful
Show threadSanjay ThakurFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril Thanks for sharing about Lamarr and such a fascinating women with ethereal beauty .I didn’t know about her at all and after you shared I did read something about her and shared not on Twitter but with my school and college friends group .To my surprise none were aware .🙏
Show threadThird spruce tree on the leftFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril Amazing woman. And not to in any way diminish her contributions to science and Hollywood, she's also the defacto Mother of Corel Draw (although the matter wound up in litigation as they used her likeness without permission).
Show threadLeeFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril
Yep, it's true!
Show threadDave RobinsonFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril this is one of those brilliant pieces of trivia that never fails to amaze.
Show threadrholland_again-againFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril Harvey Korman rode her coattails memorably.
Show threadCJ the Awkward LeftyFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril dang she is gorgeous, but that is so interesting and cool about her inventions. Thank you Hedy for my cell phone I guess!
Show threadMary Alicia ZiffFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril
It's about time a woman got recognition.
Show threadElizabeth RyneckiFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril there’s a nice documentary about her: Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Show threadFeralRobotsFeb 20, 2023

@Sheril also invented those little pills that were supposed to make a fizzy drink when you added water. They weren't very good but I loved them because they were cool.

Point being she invented pretty much her whole adult life. At one point she quipped she was only still making movies to pay for the inventing.

Show threadFerdi Groenewald Feb 20, 2023
@Sheril Thanks for sharing! Can't believe I did not know this.
Show threadStephen JeromeFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril I never knew this. How cool!
Show threadKoray Karatay (MD,Scifi maker)Feb 20, 2023
@Sheril This doesn't say so. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency-hopping_spread_spectrum#:~:text=Frequency%2Dhopping%20spread%20spectrum%20(FHSS,to%20both%20transmitter%20and%20receiver.
Frequency-hopping spread spectrum - Wikipedia

Show threadMx. Alba Feb 20, 2023
@Sheril she was also of Dutch origin, wasn't she?
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈Feb 20, 2023
@MxAlba @Sheril
Austria-Hungary, actually
Show threadH4Heights 🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦Feb 20, 2023
@Sheril
The frequency hopping was used to avoid the guidance systems in torpedos from being jammed in WW2. It used a mechanical system to synch frequencies, but it was the genesis of Bluetooth.
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈Feb 20, 2023
@H4Heights @Sheril
No, it was actually never used in torpedoes.
Show threadH4Heights 🇪🇺🇵🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦Feb 21, 2023
@ckd @Sheril True, it was in anticipation of radio controlled torpedos in WW2. The concept of her “Secret Communications System” was unique enough to be patented on 11th Aug 1942 and later elaborated upon by William Broertjes. The technology was adopted in the 60s by the US Navy. I’ve cribbed this from Hedy Lamarr’s Wikipedia page btw. It’s fascinating stuff.
Show threadProf Dr Richard S.J. Tol MAEFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril @SFuntowicz she was, of course, Austrian
Show thread@SFuntowiczFeb 20, 2023
@richardtol @Sheril
Excellent clarification 👌
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈Feb 20, 2023
@richardtol @Sheril @SFuntowicz
She was actually born in Vienna when it was the capital of Austria-Hungary.
Show threadJeffrey RobinsonFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril A very cool story.
Show threadMiss HapFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril We named our dog "Hedy" after Lamarr. She hasn't made any breakthroughs on communication technology yet, but she is really good at puzzle toys, and learned to open doors.
Show threadLassielmrFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril yup, Austria eventually recognised her. There’s a road named after her in Vienna and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information installed a quantum telescope on the roof of the University of Vienna, which they named after her.
Show threadTipiak75  🍜Feb 20, 2023
@Sheril Such a deeply impactful legacy, in hindsight, one century later. Very impressive.
Show thread@infosec_jcp 🐈🃏 done differentlyFeb 20, 2023

@Sheril

📶🛰️📲 infogfx

Show threadRichardFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril My understanding is that Lamarr invented a feature called "slow frequency hopping," which if used with other encryption techniques can make it a bit harder to decrypt an encoded message. If I got that right, it's a clever idea but not as fundamental as you suggest. Can someone correct me if I got that wrong? Thanks!
Show threadChristian Klüber-Demir 🏈Feb 20, 2023
@no_vice @Sheril
And she didn't invent it but suggested using it on torpedo guidance.
Frequency Hopping was already invented by the end of the 19th century.
Show threadCharles J Gervasi ⚡🛡️🥥Feb 20, 2023

One of the buildings on the #Promega campus is named after #HedyLamarr.
https://goo.gl/maps/dbR5kW7tSXnxjE2VA

@Sheril
@BryceWrayTX

Before you continue to Google Maps

Show threadZeichenTatenFeb 20, 2023

@Sheril It should also be mentioned that Hedy Lamarr sided with the Allies in 1937 as an opponent of Nazism.

In Germany, the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence at TU Dortmund University and Fraunhofer IAIS was named after her in 2022. (https://lamarr-institute.org)

As a side note, Disney is said to have modeled his "Snow White" after her, and the comic book character "Catwoman" was also inspired by her.

The Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

The Lamarr Institute focuses on the research and development of high-performance, trustworthy, and resource-efficient applications

Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Show thread₣ЯеDFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril I did not know this.. Very cool.
Show threadComrade WeezFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril Lamarr's frequency hopping idea was brilliant and indeed led to improvements in secure radio communications as well as WiFi but she was a bit ahead of her time. The technology available in her day was mainly vacuum tube/valves & relays. Frequency hopping needed solid state electronics- transistors- which were not invented until 1947 for the speed and frequency stability needed to make it work. But work it did and produced vast improvements in the field.
Show threadalCoPaULFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril ionosphere is really onisphere - accessible via short wave radios
Show threadruthlessoneFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril I have read that she felt she was not taken very seriously at first by the scientific and military communities because she was beautiful and of course, also a woman 🙁
Show threadDave ByrneFeb 20, 2023
@Sheril what an incredible person she was. It’s not as if spread spectrum radio is easy to do today let alone in the 40s before transistors. I can’t believe no one has made a movie of her war time exploits. It would be A fitting tribute.
Show threadStr8ngerFeb 20, 2023

@Sheril highly recommend the documentary Bombshell.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/bombshell-hedy-lamarr-story-documentary/9906/

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story ~ About Hedy Lamarr Documentary | American Masters | PBS

Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr (Ziegfeld Girl, Samson and Delilah) was known as the world’s most beautiful woman – Snow White and Cat Woman were both based on

American Masters