Between pictures, this 1940s screen star sat down with a composer and co-invented a frequency-hopping system for guiding torpedoes. The patent was granted in 1942, shelved by the navy, and now underpins the wireless in your pocket.
The full story
Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil were granted US Patent 2,292,387 in August 1942 for a 'Secret Communication System' using frequency hopping, synchronised by a mechanism derived from player-piano rolls. The US Navy did not take it up at the time; the principle later became foundational to spread-spectrum technologies including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.
The clues we handed out
— The two signals were kept in step by a mechanism borrowed from player-piano rolls — her co-inventor wrote music for them.
— US Patent 2,292,387, filed under her married name, not the one on the film posters.
— Studio publicity called her the most beautiful woman in the world; she was unimpressed by the compliment.
— Austrian-born, she left an arms-dealer husband, and MGM signed her after she reached London.
— Initials: H.L.
How this case played
ALLEGEDLY* edition No. 57. Three strikes to name Hedy Lamarr, with a free clue
unlocked after every miss.
*A blind item you can check. Every puzzle is drawn from the public record —
court records, official rulings, and moments that unfolded on live television — and the
records are linked above. Allegedly.
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