Lamarr was inspired by Antheil’s earlier experimentation with automated musical instruments, including his 1924 soundtrack for the film Ballet Mecanique. Their patent, for what was called a frequency-hopping spread-spectrum invention, centered around the idea of frequency hopping using a piano roll to change between 88 frequencies. Women have unknowingly been the brains behind some of history's most significant innovations. Antonia Noori Farzan is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. A Hollywood star? Like her, Antheil tinkered with ideas. The studio began promoting Hedy Lamarr as the “world’s most beautiful woman”. Lamarr got her start in a 1933 Czech movie called "Ecstasy." While today’s Monopoly is an unbridled celebration of capitalism, Magie designed the game as a rebuke to that worldview. After its creation, Lamarr and Antheil sought a patent and military support for the invention. You'll receive e-mail when new stories are published in this series. Not only was she nude, but a close-up of Hedy's face "in the precise moment of rapture" (as one critic tastefully put it) was considered nothing short of pornography. Rosalind Franklin helped discover the structure of DNA; Ada Lovelace authored early computer programs and algorithms; and Lise Meitner discovered nuclear fission. But the war in Europe was never far from her mind. He was famous for composing an avant-garde symphony using unconventional instruments, not the least of which were more than a dozen player pianos, all synchronized. “My gut reaction,” wrote one Twitter commentator on Tuesday, “is this is a slap in the face of Elizabeth Magie.”, If you can suddenly hear a noise, it's Lizzie Magie rolling in her grave https://t.co/0XaJaIWECI. The Washington Post newsroom was not involved in the creation of this content. The striking movie star may be most well-known for her roles in the 1940s Oscar-nominated films ‘Algiers’ and ‘Sampson and Delilah.’ But it is her technical mind that is her greatest legacy, according to a new documentary on her life called ‘Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story.’ The film chronicles the patent that LaMarr filed for frequency-hopping technology in 1941 that became a precursor to the secure wi-fi, GPS and Bluetooth now used by billions of people around the world. Y.F.. “The incredible inventiveness of Hedy Lamarr.” The Economist, November 23, 2017. Lamarr and Antheil were determined to help defend against German attacks. Shivaune Field writes about founders, disruption and leadership. It is really scary for most guys,” Dr. Nyeck says. “Being unemployed at the time, and badly needing anything to occupy my time, I made by hand a very crude game for the sole purpose of amusing myself,” he wrote in a letter to the gamemakers. While in London, Lamarr’s luck took a turn when she was introduced to Louis B. Mayer, of the famed MGM Studios. Last year, the Digital Entertainment Group, an American association that supports and promotes entertainment platforms, awarded Geena Davis its Hedy Lamarr Award for Innovation in Entertainment Technology for her work on gender and media. "Hedy was one of those people.". The Viennese beauty soon settled into life in Beverly Hills and socialized with luminaries including John F. Kennedy and Howard Hughes, who provided her with equipment to run experiments in her trailer during her downtime from acting. When players became overwhelmed by the amount of cash they were forking over to their oligarch opponents, they could vote to switch to the anti-monopolist rules, which mirrored George’s precepts.