One of the most important military and telecommunications inventions ever was created by a very beautiful and famous A-list movie star who was huge in the 40s and 50s. Any clue? This ravishingly dazzling woman heard a bizarre and discordant multi-piano composition by an obscure composer at a dinner party one evening and a brilliant idea stuck her.
What if the composition formula could be used to jam torpedo radio communications in WW II and throw them off course? It worked by broadcasting interference to cause the torpedo to go off course. Called "Spread Sectrum Communications Technology", it was revolutionary. She and the composer worked out a complicated formula and took it to Washington, where a congressional committee prompted threw it out as the work of a silly Hollywood star. Smart as a whip, she nonetheless patented the rejected invention.
How dumb they were because at the time U boats were being sunk left, right and centre, eventually causing the death of 75,000 seamen and preventing much-needed supplies to reach the battlefields. Who was this beauty who could have changed all that? Heddy Lamar, that's who. I could not believe it. Learned all this from 'Extraordinary Women' on PBS last evening. Married six times, Lamar's personal life was a shambles, but she was a genius. Relegated to the Hollywood trash heap when her looks faded, she had practically no relationship with her three children and lived as a threadbare recluse until....until....Wi-Fi came along.
The rest is history, of course. All cordless and wireless communications are based on her original formula and she made a fortune towards the end of her life, becoming a multi-millionaire all over again.
So, the next time you use your phone or Bluetooth, think of Heddy. Who knew!?
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OMG. thanks so much. That is a wonderful and uplifting story. I knew she was caught shop-lifting about 25yrs ago and had a very sad life after Hollywood and many marriages. However, to think she was finally recognized for her genius and died wealthy.
ReplyDeleteWell, that is better than a kick in the head!!!!
She was caught shoplifting twice and acquitted both times. "I have made and lost $30 million and I can't even afford a sandwich at Schwab's," she said. Sad, but glorious in the end.
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