We are connected online more than ever. From shopping to banking, everything is feasible online. We can identify the desired areas through GPS. To do all this, we need an internet -Wi-Fi facility. That is why all the family members with internet connections at home use devices like mobile/laptops with Wi-Fi. It is also available at many places like cafes and railway stations. It is a situation where a lot of work stops otherwise. A movie star invented it. She continued to be a star actress in Hollywood while developing Wi-Fi technology. No one could recognise her other creation in the shade of silver screen lights.
Who is Hedy Lamarr?
Hedy Lamar was once a star actress in Hollywood. Her beauty on the silver screen and performance impressed the audience a lot. That is why many of the films she has acted in received solid success. But, her focus was on technology too. She was making discoveries. Born in 1914 in Austria, Hedy began working in movies at 16. In 1933, she earned stardom by starring in the Czech film Ecstasy. Hedy became part of Hollywood in 1938 with the film Algiers. She has not looked back since then. She has been swamped acting in Hollywood and Austrian, German, and Czech language movies. Yet the desire to invent something remained in her mind.
The Idea
When it comes to personal life, Hedy was married to six men. The first husband, Mandil, was the owner of an arms manufacturing company. With this, she developed an interest in weapons and ammunition. World War II began after her first release in Hollywood. Germany, Japan, Italy, and the other alliance, including the Soviet Union, France, and Britain, went to war. America has been involved in the battle lately.
However, at the beginning of the war, she met George Anthill, a well-known music director and weapons inspector in Hollywood. Many issues related to the conflict between them came up for discussion. During this time, Hedy discovered the importance of radio communication in warfare and invented the frequency-hopping technology of targeting torpedoes to attack targets without interruption.
How does it work?
Using this ‘frequency hopping’ communication between radio waves in torpedoes, the radio waves from the transmitter and receiver reach the destination by changing the carrier frequency from other waves without interference/interruption. Hedy also acquired the patent rights for this communication system with Antheil. However, she handed over the technology to the US Navy for use in a war, and it did not use it. In the 1950s, the military used this communication system to locate submarines. It has been used on ships since 1962.
Usage
With the increase in internet usage, wireless internet facility is available across the country—the same Wi-Fi. An internet connection is a Wi-Fi connection from a network to various devices. This frequency hopping communication system is used in this order without any interruption in the radio waves.
The technology saw the rise of the Local Area Network (LAN), wireless local area network, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS systems. Wi-Fi started functioning in 1998. It has been popular worldwide since 2005 and is available to the public. On January 19, 2000, Hedy passed away at 85. Hedy-Antheil was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014 for creating the ‘Frequency Hopping’ communication system.
