Hedy Lamarr: an actress and the mother of WiFi.
Hedy Lamarr rose to fame for her role in controversial Czech film Ecstasy( 1932-33) and later shifted to Hollywood and gained fame for her films Algiers (1938) first film in the United States America. She became a big name in Hollywood With her performances in movies like Boom and Comrade X in 1940, Come live with me in 1941, White cargo in 1942 but her most memorable role is of reprising Delilah in Samson and Delilah in 1949. She acted only in 30 Movies and a television series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre in the role of proud woman in 1957. Her last film in which she acted as a female lead was The Female Animal which was realeased in cinemas in 1958.
In 1960, Lamarr was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the motion picture industry.
Hedy Lamarr: an inventor who Along with George Antheil, developed technology for a radio guidance system.
Hedy Lamarr was born as Hedwig Eva Kiesler, in Vienna, Austria on November 9th, 1914 into a well-to-do Jewish family. Her father was very supportive to her and a very curious person who inspired her to look at the world with open eyes. Her scientific mind started taking lessons from her father who would often take her for long walks and discuss the workings of machines. On the others hand, her mother who was a concert pianist took her to both ballet and piano lessons and thus her brilliant mind was ignored and her beauty took prominence. She was noticed by a German film director Max Reinhardt (with whom she studied) at age 16 and she got her first small role in a German film Geld auf der Straβe (“Money on the Street”).
In 1933 she met Fritz Mandl, an Austrian munitions dealer who saw her in the play Sissy and became her adoring fan. In the same years she married to him but very soon she realised her mistake of marrying him. He wanted to keep her as a doll and showpiece to his guests and friends. She felt that she had lost her identity. He was behaving like a monarch and treating her like his subjects. She was quite unhappy and so she escaped from his grasp in 1937 by fleeing to London where she met Louis B. Mayer, of the famed MGM Studios. With this meeting she was fortunate enough to get her place secured in Hollywood and she reached there.
After reaching Hollywood soon she befriended Howard Robard Hughes jr who fuelled her
inventor mind. It is supposed that she dated Howard Hughes because of his desire for innovation. Howard was very much desired to make faster planes So he took her to his airplane factories and introduced her to scientists behind this process. She designed plane wings for Howard. For doing so she studied the fins designs of fastest fish and wings designs of the fastet birds, and she combined the designs of the both and this really worked the way Howard wanted. He called her" you are a genius" when she showed her sketch of plane wings.
Later she met her true soulmate and partner in her invention, George Antheil.
But it was also very sad to know that they were not given much reward for their work. Initially the US navy shunned their technique but who can stop fragrance of flower to spread?
In Subsequent years this system proved so useful for the military that its recognition was acknowledged and the technique was though given patent in 1942, they never saw a penny from it.
For recognition of their work the field of technology The Electronic Frontier Foundation jointly awarded Lamarr and Antheil with their Pioneer Award in 1997.
Further Lamarr also became the first woman to receive the Invention Convention’s Bulbie Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award. Although she died in 2000, Lamarr was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the development of her frequency hopping technology in 2014.
For her work she is called " the Mother of WiFi."
Asteroid discovered by Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in 1951 was named Aestroid 32730 Lamarr in her memory.
What Hedy said : ( her notable quotes)
“I know why most people never get rich. They put the money ahead of the job. If you just think of the job, the money will automatically follow. This never fails.”
“Confidence is something you’re born with. I know I had loads of it even at the age of 15.”
“I don’t fear death because I don’t fear anything I don’t understand.”
“I have not been that wise. Health I have taken for granted. Love I have demanded, perhaps too much and too often. As for money, I have only realized its true worth when I didn’t have it.”
“I was in constant demand, in my professional life and my personal life”
"... Try everything. Join everything. Meet everybody.”
“Some men like a dull life – they like the routine of eating breakfast, going to work, coming home, petting the dog, watching TV, kissing the kids, and going to bed. Stay clear of it – it’s often catching.”
“Hope & curiosity about the future seemed better than guarantees. The unknown was always so attractive to me…and still is.”
“All creative people want to do the unexpected”
“If you do good, people will accuse you of being selfish, ulterior motives.”
“Think Big”
“Give the world the best you’ve got. And you will get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway”
“Technology is forever”
“If I were to name my favourite past time I’d say talking about myself. I love it and I think most other people do too. We need people like us, more listeners and less talkers”
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