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The Astonishing Story of a Patent
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The Astonishing Story of a PatentAfter her divorce [...] Miss Lamarr went to a Hollywood party at the home of Janet Gaynor and there met George Antheil, the composer. Miss Lamarr and Antheil got to talking about the war and how tough it was going to be to stop the Nazis. As the story goes, Miss Lamarr recalled hearing some conversations that had occurred between her first husband, Mr. Mandl, and the Nazis, who seemed to place great value on creating some sort of device that would permit the radio control of airborne torpedoes and reduce the danger of jamming. She and Antheil got to discussing all this. The idea, they decided, was to defeat jamming efforts by sending synchronized radio signals on various wavelengths to missiles, which could then be directed to hit their mark.
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Now In Nearly Every Cell PhoneThe US military did not adopt the technology at first. However once the patent had expired, this principle was used in the jamming technologies employed during the Bay of Pigs operation (not a recommendation, but at least that part of the operation was successful). Antheils original idea was admittedly too cumbersome: the punched tapes he suggested (modeled on those of player pianos) could not be synchronized in real life with the degree of precision necessary. However, the invention of the transistor obviated the need for physical punched tape, and now his principle is known as frequency hopping and is used by major US military satellites, as well as all GSM cellular telephones.
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The Story Behind the StoryHow did composer Antheil and actress Lamarr actually have the knowledge to create such a revolutionary design? Three factors seem to be involved: Firstly, Lamarr was well aware of the communications problems inherent in warfare, having participated in endless meetings in Europe beside her munitions dealer husband Fritz Mandl. Secondly, Antheil, for his part, had spent months trying to synchronize player pianos for the Ballet Mécanique. And thirdly, Antheils brother Henry was in Germany working for the State Department.
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