She Invented That A digital museum of women in science

Scientist Exhibit

Hedy Lamarr

Engineering

1914 – 2000 Austria, United States

Co-invented a frequency-hopping communication system

Overview Institutions
Hedy Lamarr

Overview

About Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr was an actor and inventor who collaborated with composer George Antheil on a secure radio-control system during the Second World War. Their design proposed rapidly switching among radio frequencies to reduce interference and make signals harder to disrupt. The concept became an important early contribution to spread-spectrum communication technologies.

Scientific Contribution

Key Discovery

Frequency-hopping spread-spectrum technology

Co-invention of a frequency-hopping communication system designed to resist interference and interception.

Life Timeline

Important Moments

1942

invention

Receives a patent for frequency-hopping communication

Lamarr and composer George Antheil received U.S. Patent 2,292,387 for a frequency-hopping communication system designed to reduce detection and jamming of radio-controlled torpedoes.

1997

award

Receives recognition from the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Lamarr and Antheil's frequency-hopping work was recognised by the Electronic Frontier Foundation as an important contribution to communications technology.

2014

award

Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame

Lamarr was inducted posthumously for the frequency-hopping communication system she co-invented with George Antheil.

Places & Networks

Institutions

No institution affiliations are recorded yet.