The book focuses on Hedy Lamarr relationship with George Antheil an avant garde composer and their unique method of frequency jumping communication. It was designed to provide more accurate guidance for torpedoes in WWII but was never implemented. The technology is now one of the backbones of WiFi technology.
Hedy's doomed marriage to an arms dealer providing munitions to the Nazi's allowed her access to valuable military intelligence through conversations she overheard while entertaining military dignitaries at their home.
The book focuses less on her movie career and more on her life long love of inventing. She was not a party girl but preferred to spend her spare time inventing. She was not taken that seriously by the US government but did her part by raising money through the sale of US war bonds. She was strongly patriotic and wanted to do her part to defeat the Nazi's.
The book did point out an interesting fact about the horrible state of US torpedo technology at the beginning of WWII. Funding for the program had been cut. Many torpedoes launched in the early part of the war either missed their mark entirely or would not penetrate the hull of the ship. The image of a Japanese ship with several torpedoes attached to the hull exterior made it look a bit like a porcupine.
TCM Movies - Hedy Lamarr Patents - 4 min.
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