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When it comes to who developed the technologies for the Internet, three male names always come up: Tim Berners-Lee, Bob Kahn and the no less impressive Vint Cerf. At the invitation of President Van der Bellen, Dejan Jovicevic (the father of “brutkasten”) and I met the latter during a meal. And even if this delights nerdy souls like us and I’m still wondering why Vint is currently developing an internet backbone for Mars, as he passionately told us, I’m always missing a big name when it comes to internet great minds going. . You often hear this almost forgotten name when you talk about the most beautiful women in Hollywood or even the world. Her technical genius must also be recognized. Because without this nifty Viennese, we probably wouldn’t have WiFi or Bluetooth. The foundations they created were used by the US military, built on torpedoes and viewed as the basic technology of today’s data transmission. So, close the curtain on the witty and, as she put it, “the simple and complicated Hedy Lamarr.”
Fast forward to the life of Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr (born 1914), née Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, loved to conduct experiments as a child. She was encouraged to do so by what is probably the most important man in her life, the Jewish banker Emil Kiesler of Lemberg, her father. Mother Gertrud was a concert piano player and promoted her artistic talent. Hedy received piano, ballet, and language lessons at a young age. As a young man, she also took acting classes. She was considered very talented and attractive. After filming with Heinz Rühmann and Hans Moser, he finally played the lead role in Gustav Machatý’s film “Ekstase” in 1933. This film became a scandal due to a ten minute nude scene and was later banned by the Nazis. .
On August 10, 1933, Hedy Lamarr married the Viennese industrialist Fritz Mandl, who had enriched himself in the arms industry, a domineering and jealous man who forbade her to appear in movies and who, according to his own account, treated her like a “caged display doll”. At her weapons factory, she first came into contact with the torpedo technology produced there – experience she would need later.
She escaped from the patriarch after a few years and after the divorce in 1937 she moved to Paris shortly before moving to London, where she made another formative relationship: she met Louis B. Mayer, the Russian-American film producer and founder of Metro Studios. Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). Addicted to her beauty and charisma, he offered her a film deal in Hollywood. She has become a true megastar in films like Algiers and Boom Town, in the latter alongside Hollywood icons Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable.
Lamarr’s personal life was to remain turbulent. The mother of three was married a total of 6 times and is said to have had many affairs, with both men and women.
And even if the off-roader first became known for its beauty and often-cited movies and was eventually honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, we want to dedicate ourselves today to technical genius Hedy Lamarr.
Technical genius Hedy Lamarr
Without ever having had any technical or scientific training, one day he began to investigate (more) during his film breaks. Among other things, he dealt with the development of a pill that dissolved in water transformed into a soft drink, but also with the improvement of traffic lights. He supported the aviation magnate Howard Hughes on various projects and investigated the shape of new aircraft. She suggested mimicking the movements of fish and birds, and the eccentric billionaire asked her team of scientists and designers to work with her on new ideas that would make airplanes faster and more stable.
However, he had his most successful idea in collaboration with his friend, the pianist George Antheil. They were working on a top secret communication system known as the “frequency hopping” method. It was inspired by the principle of punch cards that, for example, automatic pianos control when you play. He applied this principle to torpedoes. If the torpedo and the control element were to change frequency constantly and at exactly the same time, the connection would be more difficult to track from the outside and therefore extremely difficult to interfere and attack.
The Jewish woman Lamarr became an American patriot during World War II and recognized the importance of such technology in its use against Hitler’s Germany. Why this invention It could save countless lives in the Battle of the Atlantic, in which German submarines destroyed numerous Allied ships, they believe.
Lamarr and Antheil presented their development to the United States Inventors Council in December 1940, chaired by Charles Kettering, then director of research at General Motors. Kettering encouraged the two to patent their idea. Finally, on August 11, 1942, his patent was confirmed.
After further development in 1962, the patent was used, among other things, on new Navy ships. The so-called frequency hopping method is used today in communication technology, for example with Bluetooth, and with various WLAN standards. With this standard, the transmission is much less susceptible to interference, even with a large number of data packets, and is therefore popular.
By the way, those who are more interested in this fascinating personality, the Jewish City Museum of Vienna is currently dedicating an exhibition to this eldest daughter.
Laura Nenzi receives the Hedy Lamarr award
Tim Berners Lee today heads the World Wide Web Consortium and wants your invention, the WWW. TCP inventor Bob Kahn received the Turing Prize and can count on his honorary doctorates in his well-deserved retirement. Vint Cerf, like I said, wants the internet to bring the moon to Mars too. And if Hedy Lamarr was still alive, she probably would have campaigned for women’s rights and online hate and encouraged many young women to study STEM subjects, believe in themselves, and develop exciting world-changing technologies.
Last week, the Vienna Science Fund FWF awarded the Hedy Lamarr Award. The winner is the researcher from Italy and, hold on tight, the actress Laura Nenzi. She devoted herself to basic research in the field of machine learning at the Vienna University of Technology and examined new methods for sustainability at the interface between computing and mathematics.
“It is a great honor for me to receive this award. First, because I work in an area of computing that is less well known. I am proud to give more visibility to this special ‘community’. Secondly, because Hedy Lamarr was also an actress, ”emphasized Nenzi, visibly moved at the award ceremony, according to the blog TU Wien.
Congratulations! Hedy would be proud.
About the Author
Mic Hirschbrich is CEO of artificial intelligence firm Apollo.AI, advised leading politicians on digital issues, and led Sebastian Kurz’s group of digital experts. His professional stints in Southeast Asia, India, and the US have had a lasting impact on him and have made him want to constantly expand his own perspective. In 2018, Hirschbrich published the book “Brave New World 4.0 – Opportunities and Risks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, in which, among other things, he addresses the socio-political implications of artificial intelligence.
