Wednesday, December 7, 2011

"Old Hollywood glamor and beauty couldn't hold a candle to her intellect," says Jackie

What do Hedy Lamarr, avant-garde composer George Antheil, and your cell phone have in common? The answer is spread-spectrum radio: a revolutionary inven­tion based on the rapid switching of communications sig­nals among a spread of different frequencies. Without this technology, we would not have the digital comforts that we take for granted today.


Only a writer of Richard Rhodes’s caliber could do justice to this remarkable story. Unhappily married to a Nazi arms dealer, Lamarr fled to America at the start of World War II; she brought with her not only her theatrical talent but also a gift for technical innovation. An introduction to Antheil at a Hollywood dinner table culminated in a U.S. patent for a jam- proof radio guidance system for torpedoes—the unlikely duo’s gift to the U.S. war effort.


What other book brings together 1920s Paris, player pianos, Nazi weaponry, and digital wireless into one satisfying whole? In its juxtaposition of Hollywood glamour with the reality of a brutal war, Hedy’s Folly is a riveting book about unlikely amateur inventors collaborating to change the world.

Jackie says:

"Hedy Lamarr was far, far more than a pretty face.  She was a human sponge, seemingly remote and beautiful but always listening and storing away information.  Especially during her first marriage, to the head of a munitions company.  It helped her to build a better torpedo, though no one knew that for years as the patented technology languished in the Navy's classified files.  Finally, in 1999, she was recognized as being a Pioneer of Science.  We should think of her every day, because her idea is the basis of much of the wireless technology: cell phones, computers, GPS and more.

This book is the tale of that invention, with colorful bits about Hedy's life in general, as well as her partner on the torpedo invention,and her very good friend, the composer George Antheil.  The lives they led are fascinating even without the inventions (of which there were many--Hedy's invented things her whole life, and died with sketches on the drawing board for more).  Reading this book is taking a very enlightening trip back to the 1920's through the 1950's where legends collected to create, talk, argue, invent and live the golden life.  Beauty, brains, abundant talent, Europe, Hollywood, intrigue--this book really has it all.
"


A sample of George's music, Toccata No. 2:




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