people biographies · Ages 6-8

Hedy Lamarr Had an Idea Between Movie Scenes

Hedy Lamarr was a film star who also invented, and one of her ideas later helped wireless communication.

The whole story

1. Between movie scenes, Hedy Lamarr opened her notebook. The studio buzzed around her, but her pencil was ready.

2. Hedy loved acting. She also loved taking things apart in her mind and putting them together in new ways.

3. One afternoon, Hedy wondered about a radio message. Could it travel in a way that was harder to interrupt?

4. Hedy shared the question with George Antheil, a composer and inventor of musical ideas. Together, they began to think.

5. Their idea was to let a message change channels again and again. It would hop from place to place, like a tune with many notes.

6. Hedy and George worked out a careful pattern for the hopping. A message could keep going while the pattern changed.

7. Then the studio called, “Ready!” Hedy closed her notebook and stepped back into the scene.

8. Hedy and George received a patent for their idea. They hoped it might help protect important messages.

9. For a while, the idea waited quietly. Hedy returned to films, but she never stopped wondering.

10. Years later, people found new uses for ideas like Hedy’s. Signals could hop between channels in wireless communication.

11. Hedy Lamarr was a film star who also invented. One of her ideas later helped wireless communication—and it began between movie scenes.

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