The Hollywood Dame Who Invented Wireless Technology
A look into the life and accomplishments of Hedy Lamarr.
Several years ago I was tapped to teach a class in telecommunications to groups of female inmates at a California State Prison. My biggest challenge wasn’t wrangling hardcore criminals. It was in making the curriculum interesting enough for these women so that they would be inspired to take a new career choice in technology once released from prison.
A few weeks into teaching the rather boring subject, I stumbled upon a paragraph in a textbook about Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr’s inventions in wireless technology. What a find! The story of the iconic actress of her day and her role in reaching milestones in technological developments served as an entertaining conduit to a dull course.
“I can excuse everything but boredom. Boring people don’t have to stay that way”. — Hedy Lamarr
Hedy was a Jewish child born, Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, in Vienna during the final years of the Austro-Hungarian empire and at the onset of World War I in 1914. Her father was Ukrainian and her mother Hungarian. Her father gave her a lot of one-on-one attention. He would often take her for long walks where he would discuss the operations of…
