A little trivia: beauty and brainy (Quora answer)

[quora.com]

This is Austrian-American actress, Hedy Lamarr, recognised as one of the most beautiful, sensual women in Hollywood during the ’30s & ’40s, during Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's “golden age” of cinema.

What many won't know, is that she basically invented the technology we use today for GPS, Bluetooth & Wi-Fi. It's a pity that history remembers her for her looks, rather than her intellect.

But why is that so?

Back in the ’40s, Lamarr recognised the flaw in radio-controlled torpedoes and how they could be easily jammed. Together with her friend George Antheil, she developed a “secret communication system” for war-time use.

She created a “frequency hopping” signal as a way to guide radio-controlled missiles without any detection, which would effectively counter any attempts by the Nazis to jam or track their signals.

On June 10, 1941, the duo submitted their patent. US Patent No. 2,292,387 was subsequently granted on August 11, 1942 for their early work on spread spectrum technology. But since the military wasn’t too keen on receiving help from civilians, and because this technology was way ahead of its time, they chose to overlook her work entirely.

Lamarr's technology was eventually implemented in naval ships in the ’60s, but up until her passing in 2000, she didn't earn a single cent from her pioneering concept. This was because her patent had expired in 1959, and yet the idea was still utilised in the development of a new secure military communications system found on ships sent to the Cuban blockade in 1962.

That may have been an oversight on her part, but to think that the world failed to acknowledge her for her contributions for so long is deeply saddening. It wasn't until 1997 when she was presented with two awards by the Electronic Frontier Foundation did she finally gain recognition, though she had already turned 82 by then.

Even then, hardly any of us remember her for her scientific contributions, even today.

So what's the saddest truth about smart people?

Smart people often fall through the cracks. They are frequently overlooked, forgotten, and hardly ever get the credit that they truly deserve.

What a pity that history forgets its heroes.