Actress Hedy Lamarr was not just a pretty face
Born in Austria, American actress Hedy Lamarr became one of Hollywood’s most fabulous leading ladies after signing a contract with MGM in 1937. However, her father had ensured that she would have brains in addition to beauty, and during her childhood, he enjoyed explaining how different technologies worked.
At the beginning of WWII, she and composer George Antheil devised a radio guidance system that used frequency-hopping technology to avoid Axis powers jamming Allied torpedoes. The principles of their work were later used in Bluetooth and GPS technology. Similar methods were also used in legacy versions of Wi-Fi.