In 1942, Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr and avant-garde composer George Antheil received US Patent 2,292,387 for a frequency-hopping radio system synchronised by a perforated paper roll borrowed from a player piano, a technique the Navy filed away as unworkable and which now underpins every Wi-Fi router, Bluetooth earbud, and GPS receiver on Earth. (opens in new tab)

On August 11, 1942, the US Patent Office issued Patent No. 2,292,387 to Hedy Kiesler Markey, the legal name of MGM star Hedy Lamarr, and her co-inventor George Antheil, a composer best known for a 1920s ballet scored for multiple synchronised player pianos, airplane propellers, and a siren. The patent described a “secret communication system” […]