Monday’s Google Doodle celebrates the beauty and brains of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr, who would’ve turned 101 on Nov. 9.
Born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria, she began acting in her teens, performing the first onscreen orgasm in the Czech film Ecstasy at the age of 18. She later changed her name to Hedy Lamarr when she moved to Hollywood to become one of MGM’s leading actresses.
Lamarr quickly got bored of Hollywood, though, and decided to try her hand at helping the Allied war effort instead. She had learned about military technology from her first husband, arms manufacturer Friedrich Mandle, and decided to use that knowledge for the greater good, reports the Telegraph.
She teamed up with her friend George Antheil, a composer, to figure out how to help stop German submarines from jamming Allied radio signals using the same mechanisms found in pianos. In 1942, she developed the “secret communication system,” a frequency-hopping mechanism that laid the foundation for the development of Bluetooth and wi-fi technology. She died at the age of 85 in 2000.
Google’s animated Doodle, designed by Jennifer Hom, honors the actress’s technological achievements along with her glamorous film career.
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