'Most Beautiful Woman' By Day, Inventor By Night

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/27/142664182/most-beautiful-woman-by-day-inventor-by-night

by taylorbuley • 15 years ago

180 14 15 years ago

srean• 15 years ago

The article comes close but does not mention one interesting piece of trivia. The frequency hopping device was made using (and inspired by) a pianoroll for an autopiano. An instrument that Lamarr and her collaborator, composer Antheil would have been familiar with. In their scheme of things, the torpedo and the sub would play the same "song" and jump frequencies in sync. Their patent lay ignored till fairly recently

EDIT: here is an Atlantic article that has more detail:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/09/celebr...

EvilTrout• 15 years ago

Fun tidbit for gamers: in Half Life 2, the headcrab that causes the portal mixup is named Lamarr, after Hedy. Get it?

topa• 15 years ago

and it hops around randomly..

surlyadopter• 15 years ago

That's Hedley.

Ryanmf• 15 years ago

Oh, come on.

I sort of get the "quips that don't add materially to the discussion get all the downvotes" sentiment, but a well executed, topically relevant Mel Brooks joke in the gray? On a Sunday? We're very puzzled.

enneff• 15 years ago

It's just noise. If you want pop culture references and one liners go to Reddit.

yummies• 15 years ago

i can think of a few trolls who would love to snatch up that patent and sue everyone who ever had anything to do with a smartphone.

lunchbox• 15 years ago

The patent is expired.

Jun8• 15 years ago

Previous coverage on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1368176.

Nate75Sanders• 15 years ago

Another piece of trivia about her that I remember and am surprised nobody else pointed out:

She was the woman on the cover of CorelDraw who sued Corel and won because they used her likeness:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fsDWp0rXAo8/TWyXPD4a_YI/A...

vilda• 15 years ago

I'm quite surprised that they ignored her past - she was married to Friedrich Mandl, an arms manufacturer. She learned about military technology from his friends.

So obvious option - that historians considers - is that she basically patented ideas she obtained/discussed during her marriage. Missing details are also behind the reason why she could not reproduce some of them.

yread• 15 years ago

She also starred in the first erotic movie ever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecstasy_(film)

'Most Beautiful Woman' By Day, Inventor By Night

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