The Chinese site Xinhua brought to light yesterday, perhaps as an example to the younger generations, the figure of Hedy Lamarr, defining her as "the most beautiful scientist in the world". Hedy (born in Vienna in 1914 as Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler), hitherto known more as an actress than as a scientist, caused a great scandal in the young world of cinema when, in a famous 1933 film – Ecstasy – she posed nude between lakes and woods (see links).
But Hedy Lamarr, says Xinhua's toss-up at today's "knowledge economy," was no 'dumb blonde': first, because she wasn't blonde, second, because she wasn't stupid. In fact he patented, together with his friend George Antheil, a torpedo guidance system that was twenty years ahead of the time of technology. The invention had ups and downs and the US Navy did not adopt it in the form it was then. But, two decades later, an improved version, giving primacy to the Lamarr-Antheil system, saw the light of day. Since then Hedy's intuition – applying frequency modulation to torpedo remote guidance systems – has been the basis of many applications.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2012-09/06/c_131831346.htm
http://www.inventions.org/culture/female/lamarr.html
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/354461/Ecstasy-Movie-Clip-Skinny-Dip.html
