Historical Notes: The Fantastic Lives of Hedy Lamarr

摘要

Recently I watched a very interesting and well-evidenced documentary film about Hedy Lamarr (born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler,1914-2000) on the BBC iPlayer [1]. It was a heart-warming account of the life of this extraordinary woman, whose image for many people is forever defined by her appearance. Hedy is known to many only as a Hollywood star rather than a refugee or an inventor. Indeed, that is how she came to be famous. At the same time, she was herself aware of the image that others had of her - and capitalised on it in her cinematic undertakings. By all accounts an immensely intelligent woman, Hedy took things that came to her and made the best of them. It was, of course, not always easy. Of Jewish origin, she was first married to an arms manufacturer in pre-World War II Vienna. Some years later, when she went to live in the US, she raised many millions to help the Allies' war effort. In this period, she met a musician, George Antheil (1900-1959), an American composer of German origin, and they began working on a patent that lies at the heart of wifi and Bluetooth technology.