Hedy Lamarr was often called “the most beautiful woman in the world.” In September of 1940, she was a 26-yr-old actress was thriving in Hollywood, starring in such films as Tortilla Flat, Lady of the Tropics, Boom Town, and Samson and Delilah, with actors like Clark Gable and Spencer Tracey. Lamarr was a Jewish immigrant from Nazi-occupied Austria. She had been making America her home since 1938, and enjoying her new-found freedom and safety, when the world…or at least the Nazi part of the world came crashing down on her. Lamar was still living in safety, but she heard about an op in which Nazi U-boats hunted down and sank a cruise ship trying to evacuate 90 British schoolchildren to Canada. The sinking took the lives of 77 children who drowned in the bleak north Atlantic. Lamar was outraged and vowed to fight back.
Lamar was more than just a pretty face. She was a talented engineer and had the 
skills necessary to develop a sonar sub-locator which was used in the Atlantic for the benefit of the Allies. The principles of her work are now incorporated into modern Wi-Fi, CDMA, and Bluetooth technology, and this work led to her to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014. Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in 1914 in Vienna, the only child of Gertrud “Trude” Kiesler née Lichtwitz and Emil Kiesler. As a child, Lamarr was interested in acting and was fascinated by theatre and film. She also won a beauty contest in Vienna, when she was 12. Her father wanted her dreams to come true, but he wisely wanted her to know more. They began to take long walks during which he would explain how technology worked.
On August 10, 1933, Lamarr married a rich admirer named Friedrich Mandl at the Karlskirche. She was 18 years old, and he was 33. As marriages go, this 
was her biggest mistake. Mandl was controlling and made her quit acting. He controlled her life is many other ways too, but while she felt like a virtual prisoner in their castle, he did take her on business trips where he conferred with scientists and other professionals involved in military technology. The meetings became her introduction to the field of applied science and nurtured her latent talent in science. Mandl had close social and business ties to the Italian government, selling munitions to the country, and although like Hedy, his own father was Jewish, had ties to the Nazi regime of Germany, as well. Lamarr was no longer able to tolerate her husband’s controlling ways and eventually made her escape from her unbearable marriage to Mandl. By 1938, she had made her way to the United States, and it was there that she was able to pursue both her acting career and what would become her contribution to the world…the sonar locater. Lamarr died Casselberry, Florida of heart disease on January 19, 2000, at the age of 85. Her son Anthony Loder spread her ashes in Austria’s Vienna Woods in accordance with her last wishes.
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