Hedy Lamarr
Frequency Hopping
A wartime patent that anticipated spread spectrum
Rating
84Impact score
Domains
Spread spectrumRadioSignal security
Scouting report
With composer George Antheil, patented a frequency-hopping scheme in 1942 to stop radio-guided torpedoes being jammed, synchronised by a mechanism borrowed from player pianos. The Navy shelved it. The underlying idea is an ancestor of the spread-spectrum techniques used in later secure and wireless communication, and the patent was allowed to lapse unpaid.
Curator’s note
Filed it, gave it to the Navy for free, and got nothing for decades.
Portrait
Painted from a photograph of Hedy Lamarr by Unknown authorUnknown author, licensed Public domain.
Sources
- 01Hedy Lamarr en.wikipedia.org
- 02US Patent 2,292,387 patents.google.com