Introduction

Introduction

  Not a Fan Letter

Dear Hedy Lamarr,    This is not a fan letter. At least, not in the Hollywood sense. Like too many things in your life, it arrives in an untimely fashion. A Woman, Interrupted—by a dictatorial husband, the Hollywood image machine, and ghostwriters, among...

 A Woman Interrupted – Introduction

The Press Kit Generator that transmits elements of your story to the general public often just repeats the tale of the brainy starlet who was unrecognized until now as the inventor of spread spectrum communication. It is a smooth, linear narrative that can provide a...

88 Frequencies/Hard to Intercept

Any enemy attempting to jam the radio signals would have to decode what pattern among the eighty-eight possible frequencies was guiding the torpedo—an impossible task.

A spy who had already carried out your mission

In the late 1930’s, you fled to America, escaping the clutches of  your  husband, Fritz Mandl, a munitions manufacturer for the Nazis who held you under virtual house arrest. Jealous and possessive, he took you to all his conferences on weapons systems. Little did he...

A spy who had already carried out your mission

In the late 1930’s, you fled to America, escaping the clutches of  your  husband, Fritz Mandl, a munitions manufacturer for the Nazis who held you under virtual house arrest. Jealous and possessive, he took you to all his conferences on weapons systems. Little did he...

Airplane Sonata

True to its name, your Airplane Sonata consisted of an arrangement of sixteen player pianos, electric bells, and a spinning airplane prop.

Analog to Digital

to the digital. from the analog the passage a life that marks your life, best describes frequency hopping The idea ofthings to come... as the prophet of never to be recognized doomed, like Cassandra, were betrayed by it. technology you who mastered Ironically, things...

Antheil’s Composition Techniques

    First, the positive. . .    Descriptions of Antheil’s musical technique suggest the same multi-layering of complex relationships. Analyzing Antheil’s Airplane Sonata, Linda Whitesitt describes his “manipulation of ostinato patterns and his technique...

Bad Boy of Music

In  his  The Bad  Boy  of  Music, the  avant-garde  composer George  Antheil  recounts meeting you in 1940. At a party hosted  by  Mitzi Gaynor,  while  noodling  at the piano,  Antheil  and  you stumbled on  this new technology...

Ballet Sensation

A perfect collaborator, Antheil  was well versed in synchronization techniques. He had created such sensation-causing compositions as Ballet Mécanique."I consider my 'Ballet  Mécanique' a mad youthful prank!"

Bombarded

Adrienne Rich's predicament (and strength) mirrors your own... I am bombarded yet      I stand. I have been standing all my life in the direct path of a battery of signals the most accurately transmitted most untranslatable language in the universe…...

Cardan Grille

An electronic version of the Cardan Grille, a predetermined set of frequencies would be established between sender and receiver, as though each one had the top card with slots that could be placed over the coded message: “Sir John regards you well and spekesagain that...

Ciphering Text

As both a ciphering device and a cybertext, your invention's ability to send secret messages through noisy channels can help decode its own author’s life.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Patented in 1942, your Secret Communication System would enable torpedoes to find their targets by avoiding enemy jamming of their radio signals.Decades ahead of its time, it would later be employed to encrypt communication signals among U.S. ships during the Cuban...

Desire to Serve by Inventing

You announced your intention to join the National Inventors Council“They could just have me around,and ask me questions.”

Dignifying Science

In Dignifying Science, a graphic novella devoted to female inventors, Jim Ottaviani further recreates the collaboration between the two of you: A perfect collaborator, Antheil  was well versed in synchronization techniques. He had created such sensation-causing...

Electronic Frontier Award

Belatedly, in 1997,  the Electronic Frontier Foundation acknowledged your contributions to the wireless revolution with a special award. Your response was a sardonic: “It’s about time.”

Foreword

Hedy Lamarr has been adored ever since her discovery in her teens until now, and she will continue to be well on into the future.  Her list of accomplishments however, was rivaled by the many interruptions she faced throughout her life. With that, you are formally...

Gates

Had you not been a true patriot to your adopted country, signing over the patent rights to the government, you would have been more recognized and rewarded than even this fellow...

Human Torch Nazi

...and you were more than ready to turn that knowledge against the Nazis!
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