She was a walking UNIVAC. She had an IQ of 154 and she co-invented frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology during World War II, intended to prevent enemy jamming of radio-controlled torpedoes. This technology laid the foundation for modern wireless technologies like Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth.
And she was a knockout in addition to the brains.
wy69
It is a nice story but I am not so sure that Lamar’s patent was consequential to later developments of frequency skipping. Due to the technical limitations of radio at the time, Lamar’s patent was never more than a bare idea without an actual device being developed. Only when other researchers investigated and patented frequency skipping devices years later in other contexts did Lamar’s patent come to light in the research for their patents.
The 2-season TV series, “Timeless” (time travel) has an episode “Hollywoodland” that featured “Hedy Lamarr” and touched on her frequency hopping invention as the foundation for WiFi/Bluetooth.
A short 54-second clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ITBm1RyREI