November/December 2018 18 Column | Intangible investor www.IAM-media.com

Torpedo invention laid foundation for WiFi and more

In a bid to defeat the Nazis, film actress Hedy naval war – could easily be jammed and set off course. Lamarr developed a secret communications She and Antheil developed a device that evaded system that would later serve as the basis jamming and Antheil succeeded in synchronising for WiFi – but why did it take 20 years to a miniaturised player-piano mechanism with signals. They drafted designs for the frequency-hopping be recognised? system, which they then patented. Eccentric billionaire By Bruce Berman , a fan of Lamarr, put his research scientists at her disposal. Using knowledge of torpedoes gained from Lemarr’s frequency-hopping invention designed to first husband, a munitions manufacturer, the pair secretly guide Allied torpedoes failed to impress developed the idea of using frequency hopping or A US Navy leaders at a time when Europe most secure radio transmission – in this case, using a piano needed to slow the Nazi advance. roll to randomly change the signal sent between the Some readers of this column may be familiar with control centre and at short bursts within a the story, but what they probably do not know – and range of 88 frequencies on the spectrum (as there are what recent filmBombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 88 black and white keys on a piano keyboard). brings to life – is the background that led to this The specific code for the sequence of frequencies breakthrough invention and why it took 20 years to was held identically by the controlling ship and the be recognised. “Despite Lamarr torpedo. This encrypted signal was impossible for the helping to sell the enemy to scan and jam on all 88 frequencies. Antheil Curious and patriotic equivalent of $343 would control the frequency-hopping sequence using a Lamarr was a highly successful screen actress, billed million in WWII bonds, player-piano mechanism, which he had earlier used to in the 1930s as “the most beautiful woman in the the US government score his Ballet Mécanique. world”. She was also interested in how things worked. seized her invention in Lamarr’s and Antheil’s invention, Secret An Austrian-Jewish émigré in Hollywood, Lamarr 1942 as property of an Communications System 2,293,387, had just six was intellectually curious and highly patriotic, and enemy alien” claims. It was filed on 10 June 1941 and granted on wanted to do something to help her adopted country 11 August 1942. The invention was technologically defeat Germany. This prompted her to develop a difficult to implement and at that time the US Navy communications system that would later serve as the was not receptive to inventions from outside the basis for WiFi, Bluetooth, phones and Global military. In 1962, at the time of the Cuban missile Positioning System, among other innovations. crisis, an updated version of the frequency-hopping Lamarr’s invention went unacknowledged, partly design finally appeared on Navy ships. because it derived from such an unlikely source. She was an Austrian (like Hitler) with a thick accent; her Hall of fame eccentric invention partner, , was an Hedy’s Folly: the Life and Breakthrough Inventions of American avant-garde composer and pianist who had Hedy Lamarr was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning spent a decade in Paris associating with James Joyce author Richard Rhodes, who appears in Bombshell and and Ernest Hemmingway. His parents were German was a source for the film. immigrants and, like Lamarr, he did not graduate Rhodes believes that inventing has more to do with high school. perspective and creativity than technical excellence. “Being beautiful and smart are two forms of power,” Lamarr, a refugee with something to prove as much said Bombshell director Alexandra Dean, “and for as a Hollywood star, accepted challenges that others whatever reason women are usually allowed to own one regarded as obstacles. of those forms of power, but not both… The power of “That invention is different from fine art or scientific ‘being smart’ [on the other hand] is an active power discovery suggests that inventors may be different from that allows the person wielding it to take control of fine artists or scientists,” writes Rhodes. They are. Many their own narrative.” inventors are technically trained, of course, especially What drove Lamarr to invent, and how she did those who invent professionally. was it, is the focus of this fascinating and well-received home and self-educated, but was an documentary (available on and elsewhere), electrical engineer. Samuel FB Morse, the co-inventor which illustrates that some of the best inventions of the telegraph, was a painter. derive from the most unlikely sources. Bombshell Despite Lamarr helping to sell the equivalent of estimates that this one would have been worth Bruce Berman is CEO of $343 million in WWII bonds, the US government $30 billion. Brody Berman Associates seized her invention in 1942 as property of an enemy and chair of the Center alien. In 2014 Lamarr and Antheil were posthumously Six claims for Intellectual Property inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. During World War II Lamarr learned that radio- Understanding, New York, “If you do good,” Lamarr said, “people will accuse controlled torpedoes – an emerging technology in United States you of selfish motives – do good anyway.”