lucynic83:

Hedy Lamarr in I Take This Woman, 1940

“She set aside one room in her home, had a drafting table installed with a proper lighting and proper tools and a whole wall in the room of engineering reference books, and invented. When she gave the technology away it seems to her the very least they could do is pat her on the head and give her some acknowledgement. But even after she passed away, her orbituaries began with what everyone already knew: her heauty. They generally made only a glancing reference to that invention, the one she hoped could show the world that her mind was beautiful too” 

chictheunicornsparkle:

In the sixth grade I did a report on Hedy Lamarr. I got a C on it. Not for anything grammar related, but for the content. She was a movie star in the 30’s, 40’s and I think 50’s and a brilliant woman. My teacher told me she didn’t do anything, that she stole the invention of “frequency hopping” from a boyfriend, but really the guy wasn’t even her boyfriend. I did not deserve a C, Hedy Lamarr changed the world with no acknowledgement. Her invention is used today in the military, wireless phones, and GPS systems. Despite her sex appeal in movies like “Ekstase” she was still incredibly smart.

smh@ your teacher:( george antheil, hedy’s co-inventor, himself had said in his autobiography that the idea was totally hedy’s, but he helped her with synchronizing the transmitter and the receiver. i guess your teacher would’ve never said that if Hedy Lamarr weren’t a woman.

(via crawfordgold)