Hedy Lamarr, the Austrian actress-turned-inventor, was once dubbed "the most beautiful woman in the world." However, Lamarr's children have said she often viewed her beauty as a curse, as she felt typecast by the film industry. It turns out Lamarr had an equally beautiful mind, which she put to good use by helping the Allied war effort after World War II broke out.
Inspired by the way a piano works, Lamarr and her composer friend identified a way to prevent German submarines from interfering with Allied radio signals, resulting in a patent for frequency hopping. Frequency hopping has since laid the groundwork for technologies we rely upon every day: Bluetooth, GPS, and WiFi. If you're reading this on your smartphone, you can thank Ms. Lamarr for making this possible.
