BURLINGAME, Calif.-Movie star Hedy Lamarr has received a special award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for her contribution to spread-spectrum broadcast communications.
According to the foundation, Lamarr, 82, and late music composer George Antheil co-developed and patented spread spectrum technology in 1942. According to documents nominating Lamarr, she was Austrian-born and emigrated to the United States due to concern about Adolph Hitler in Europe.
She brought with her, according to the nomination, fragments of technological ideas from her Austrian husband, a supporter of the German military.
Lamarr reportedly collaborated with Antheil because the composer was interested in technological innovations. Together they reportedly sketched out an 88-unit frequency hopping scheme that could be controlled by piano roll strips. The pair applied for a patent in 1941.
Lamarr and Antheil had hoped that military applications of their invention would play a role in the defeat of Nazi Germany, said the EFF, but it now helps give ordinary people with ordinary resources access to radio communications. Also, the recent development of inexpensive computers makes spread spectrum broadcasting a possibility as well.
