Hedy Lamarr, subject of a biography subtitled The Most Beautiful Woman in Film, starred in movies like Boom Town, White Cargo, and Tortilla Flat in the ’40s. She also invented a “secret communication system” based on a frequency-hopping technology. Above is the patent she filed with composer George Antheil. Originally designed for the remote-control of musical instruments, the United States government used it during the 1962 blockade of Cuba. Today, frequency-hopping is the kernel of spread-spectrum communication technology like Bluetooth.
