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Thursday, March 03, 2011

Wikipedia biography of the day 



What do frequency hopping and Hollywood Golden Age beauty Hedy Lamarr have to do with each other?

Er, she invented it.

I admit, I did not know that.


6 Comments:

By Anonymous Ignoramus, at Thu Mar 03, 10:57:00 AM:

I actually knew this. The full story is more entertaining than the wikipedia account.

Hedy didn't invent spread spectrum, but she was on the patent. Before she left her Nazi-sympathizing husband to flee to London, she was a guest at dinner parties with lots of Nazi suck-ups. Picture them falling all over each other trying to impress Hedy, who was actually Jewish. "Tell me about your work, dahling." A lot of secrets got spilled. One scientist told Hedy enough -- and Hedy was smart enough -- to carry the idea of anti-jamming spread spectrum radio in her head to Hollywood where she met her co-patent filer. Together, they reverse engineered it. It's the same idea that we use today for cell phones -- except they use bits.

That's HEDLEY!

For me, it's Hedy or Ava Gardner for all time Hottest Brunette.  

By Blogger Andrew X, at Thu Mar 03, 11:02:00 AM:

Presumably, this topic comes to light because of Natalie Portman, who has yet to revolutionize nano-tech or the like, but is still walking in Lamar's sizeable (rhetorically speaking) footsteps.

Natalie Portman, Oscar Winner, Was Also a Precocious Scientist

I've wanted for the longest time for someone to make a movie about Heddy Lamar.

Granted, she's not near as interesting as Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, or Snookie, but who could possibly stand in their towering shadows anyway. All Lamar ever did was help revolutionize communications while helping to beat the Nazis. P'shaw!  

By Blogger D.E. Cloutier, at Thu Mar 03, 12:43:00 PM:

I always liked Heddy Lamarr's famous comment about glamour.

"Any girl can be glamorous; all you have to do is stand still and look stupid,” she said.  

By Blogger TOF, at Thu Mar 03, 01:09:00 PM:

I knew that Hedy is the diminutive for Hegwig, and I heard someplace that she was a smart cookie.

The few women I have known with the name Hedwig hated it and always used the diminutive.  

By Anonymous Rintojen Suurennus, at Thu Mar 03, 05:14:00 PM:

Very beautiful and glamorous looking lady!  

By Blogger pam, at Fri Mar 04, 08:50:00 AM:

Oh, she was all that, alright!  

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