How a Hollywood Actress Invented Wi-Fi and GPS Technology During Her Breaks Between Filming: The Story of Hedy Lamarr

The Tech Market has its heroes. They’ve completely transformed the fields they worked in. Today, I want to tell you the story of Hedy Lamarr — an American actress who, during her breaks from filming, invented the technology behind Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth.

Hedy Lamarr — The Actress

Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna on November 9, 1914, into a wealthy family. Her father, Emil Kiesler, was a banker, and her mother, Gertrude Lichtwitz, a pianist. Hedy later distanced herself from her roots, even hiding her background from her own children.

Her childhood was happy and carefree—she took ballet and piano lessons, and even joined a local theater group. Alongside her artistic interests, Hedy had a knack for math, and excelled in it just as much as in the arts. (A little nod to those who still believe people are either "creative" or "technical.")

Hedy’s path into the film industry began as a script assistant at Sascha-Film, a major Austrian company that made silent films, and later, talkies. She made her acting debut in 1922, playing a small part in the film "Money on the Street". Over the next couple of years, she started landing more significant roles in films like "Storm in a Glass" (1931) and "The Suitcases of Mr. O.F." (1931), but it was her controversial role as Eva Hermann in "Ecstasy" (1933) that catapulted her to fame. The film featured a ten-minute nude scene, which caused quite a stir. Her conservative parents were horrified, and they quickly arranged her marriage to Fritz Mandl, an Austrian millionaire and weapons manufacturer.

For four years, Hedy was absent from the silver screen, as she focused on her marriage. However, the relationship was far from ideal—Mandl was extremely jealous, and the couple had very little in common, both politically and personally. Hedy once said in an interview that her husband saw her as nothing more than a prized possession. She famously quipped, “Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.”

Hedy’s main source of entertainment during these years were her husband’s business meetings, where she found herself surrounded by technical discussions. With her strong background in math, she became fascinated by the technical side of things, and often paid close attention to the complex topics being discussed.

In 1937, Hedy fled the marriage, boarding the Normandie ship to New York. There, she signed a contract with Louis B. Mayer of MGM, marking the beginning of her rise to Hollywood stardom.

Between 1938 and 1958, Hedy appeared in many successful films, including "Algiers" (1938), "Boom Town" (1940), and "Samson and Delilah" (1949).

Hedy Lamarr — The Inventor

Despite her fame, Hedy wasn’t keen on Hollywood parties. She preferred staying at home, working on her inventions. Some of her ideas were quite unusual, like a fizzy tablet that would dissolve in water to create soda, or a shell with a contactless detonator. But what really left a mark on history was her invention of a system that could remotely control torpedoes.

It was the 1940s, a turbulent time during World War II, and Hedy noticed a major flaw in radio-controlled torpedoes: the signal could easily be jammed by the enemy. So, she came up with a brilliant solution: what if the signals could be sent in pieces, on different frequencies, making it harder to block them?

Hedy didn’t work alone—she teamed up with composer George Antheil, who helped refine the idea by suggesting that the signals be sent in short bursts over 88 frequencies (a nod to the 88 keys of a piano).

The invention worked by rapidly switching between frequencies, a technique called frequency hopping. This made it impossible for the signal to be intercepted or jammed.

Hedy and George patented their invention and offered it to the U.S. Navy for free. Unfortunately, the military thought it was too bulky and didn’t pursue it at the time. But when transistors became available in the 1950s, the Navy revisited the idea and incorporated it into sonar buoys used to detect submarines.

In 1959, the patent expired, and Hedy and George received no financial reward for their work. However, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, American ships used torpedoes that were guided by Hedy’s frequency-hopping technology.

Many years later, the concept behind Hedy and George’s invention became the foundation for what we now use every day: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

As Joyce Bedi from the Smithsonian Institute pointed out, "After Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil’s groundbreaking work on frequency hopping, many advanced spectrum technologies followed, including wireless communication using variable signals like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS."

Throughout her life, Hedy continued to invent—she created a fluorescent dog collar, modifications for the supersonic Concorde airplane, and even a new type of traffic light. She passed away on January 19, 2000, at the age of 85.

While some scientists argue that Hedy wasn’t the first to explore frequency-hopping, history doesn’t deal in "what ifs." In 1997, Hedy was officially recognized for her invention, and in 2014, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.