The Mother of Wi-Fi

Hedy Lamarr helped the world in battle, and was one of the key contributors for the human race to become an online, interconnected society.

Her contributions to our allies WW2, war effort and the world of STEM impacted society and have changed our world and community even today. 

Wi-Fi and bluetooth allow humans to stay connected with each other and our devices, bringing our community together. Where did these ideas come from? Strangely enough it didn't come from a Silicon Valley college dropout’s garage brainstorming session. The very concept of Wi-Fi originates back to World War 2 (WW2) in its precursor form, frequency hopping.  The person responsible for this invention was nobody other than actress and inventor, Hedy Lamarr.

Born on November 9, 1914, in Vienna, Austria. Her birth name was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, but she later changed it to Hedy Lamarr when she moved to Hollywood. Not only was Lamarr a talented actress, but on the side, she was also a clever inventor. Her contributions to our allies WW2, war effort and the world of STEM impacted society and have changed our world and community even today. 

Lamarr had always been an inventor. As a child, she and her father would take walks talking about how machines worked. When she was 5, Lamarr took apart her music box by herself to see how it operated. In her teenage years, Lamarr's intellectual talent was ignored as her acting skills and beauty took the spotlight. She was hired by film director Max Reinhardt at the age 16, and starred in her first small film role. Throughout the 1930s her acting career continued to blossom, and she eventually ended up working for MGM studios in Hollywood.  Lamarr then acted in films such as “Samson and Delilah", and “White Cargo”.  “Improving things comes naturally to me” said the Austrian-American actress. In her free time, she could be found experimenting and inventing new things. such as an upgraded stoplight, and a flavored tablet that dissolved in water to make a soda similar to a Coke. Undoubtedly the most significant invention of hers was designed with hopes for assisting the United States Navy during WW2. 

In 1940, Lamarr met friend, composer, and pianist George Antheil. The two were greatly concerned about the war that was currently taking shape around them. Antheil recalled, “Hedy said that she did not feel very comfortable, sitting there in Hollywood and making lots of money when things were in such a state.” To help out their community, and country, the two tried to solve an important problem of war: radio-controlled torpedoes could be easily jammed by the enemy, making them ineffective. Together, they came up with the idea of frequency hopping, which involved rapidly switching the radio frequencies used to control the torpedoes. This would make it much harder for the enemy to jam the signals. Therefore, it could be used in the U.S. Navy to help guide their torpedoes precisely, helping out the navy and easing their job. Unfortunately, while this invention was awarded U.S. Patent No. 2,292,387 in August of 1942, the Navy decided against the addition of the new frequency hopping system. 

Decades later, the significance of their invention was recognized. Frequency hopping became a key technology in modern wireless communication systems, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. all these systems use the frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), and it works in a very similar way to Lamarr's frequency hopping torpedo system. 

Frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) is a method of transmitting radio signals by rapidly changing the carrier frequency among many frequencies occupying a large spectral band. The changes are controlled by a code known to both transmitter and receiver. FHSS is used to avoid interference, to prevent eavesdropping, and to enable code-division multiple access (CDMA) communications.

The frequency band is divided into smaller sub-bands. Signals rapidly change ("hop") their carrier frequencies among the center frequencies of these sub-bands in a determined order. Interference at a specific frequency will affect the signal only during a short interval. (Torrieri, Don (2018). Principles of Spread-Spectrum Communication Systems, 4th ed.)

In 1997, the Electronic Frontier Foundation awarded Lamarr and Antheil with their Pioneer Award. Lamarr was also put into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the development of her frequency hopping technology in 2014.  

Lamarr has had a long lasting impact on the acting and the STEM community. Not only was she responsible for connecting our precious devices to the web, and she was smart, inspiring, and capable. Most importantly, leaders help their community in important and useful ways. Hedy Lamarr, dubbed the “Mother of Wi-Fi” is no exception. She has helped the world in battle, and was one of the key contributors for the human race to become an online, interconnected society. So, next time you use your smartphone, connect to Wi-Fi, or use GPS to find your way, remember to thank Hedy Lamarr.

Works Cited

Benson, Thor. “How Hedy Lamarr built the foundations of Wi-Fi 80 years ago.” DigiTrends, https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/hedy-lamarr-frequency-hopping/?form=MG0AV3.

Cheslak, Colleen. “Biography: Hedy Lamarr.” National Women's History Museum, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/hedy-lamarr . Accessed 31 December 2024.

CMG Worldwide. “Biography – Hedy Lamarr.” Hedy Lamarr, (n.d), https://www.hedylamarr.com/about/biography/ Accessed 15 December 2024.

Ward, Donna. “Hedy Lamarr: The Incredible Mind Behind Secure WiFi, GPS And Bluetooth.” Forbes, 28 February 2018,  Accessed 19 December 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shivaunefield/2018/02/28/hedy-lamarr-the-incredible-mind-behind-secure-wi-fi-gps-bluetooth/  Accessed 31 December 2024.

Wikipedia. “Hedy Lamarr.” Wikipedia, (n.d), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr.  Accessed 19 December 2024.

Torrieri, Don (2018). Principles of Spread-Spectrum Communication Systems, 4th ed. Accessed 3 January 2025.