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Hedy
Lamarr
Award
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr is a largely unsung hero in technology and national security. Most who know about her think only of her beauty and acting ability which were both prodigious.
Thanks to the gracious support of her daughter, Denise Loder-DeLuca, we are able to recognize others who may have toiled in obscurity or broken barriers to contribute amazing innovations, inventions and approaches that make our everyday lives better and improve our national security.
Her work with concert pianist, George Anthiel, in developing a torpedo guidance system that could not be hacked by the Germans was based on an approach known as radio frequency-hopping.
Hedy was left off a patent for a frequency-hopping device because she was not a US citizen. Cell phones, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth technologies were all made possible because of her work.
Here are links to some wonderful background information on the patent, the Official Hedy Lamarr website, the wonderful PBS documentary "Bombshell" and some snippets from it on YouTube :
We look forward to recognizing the many unsung heroes, many of them women and minorities, whose enormous contributions to science and technologies have greatly impacted our lives.