The Story Behind the Story

Our story begins in a luxurious German home where Fritz and Hedwig entertain guests for dinner. These guests happen to be Nazi officers, but Hedwig disapproves of Fritz selling weapons to them. At the next dinner party, Hedwig pulls out all her stops by wearing her best evening gown and finest jewelry. During the meal, she excuses herself only to never return. The following morning, a stunning woman arrives by train in Paris, discovered shortly after by Louis B. Mayer from MGM fame. A year later, she stars opposite leading men in Hollywood as Hedy Lamarr. By 1941, she was regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world. She wasn't just beautiful; she was also highly intelligent and an amateur inventor. Her first big idea came when she read about German submarines sinking unarmed merchant ships and how Germans were jamming Allied torpedoes' frequencies. Inspired by this, she recalled radio's untapped potential and designed a device that allowed signals to switch between frequencies, thus overcoming the jamming signal. She patented her invention and gave it to the Navy, but due to her beauty, the representative shelved it, resulting in many merchant ships being sunk. Years later, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, her invention was tested successfully. Although she wasn't credited for inventing it, her patent led to modern satellite communications systems and Wi-Fi technology.