very neat stuff.
the history of common technologies can be so interesting sometimes.
73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message -----
From: "Howard Kaufman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 7:01 PM
Subject: Fw: A Bit of History. Very Interesting
> It all started with a skin flick...
> In 1933, a beautiful, young Austrian woman =
> took off her clothes for a movie director. She ran through the woods... =
> naked. She swam in a lake... naked. Pushing well beyond the social norms =
> of the period, the movie also featured a simulated orgasm. To make the =
> scene "vivid," the director reportedly stabbed the actress with a sharp =
> pin just offscreen.
> The most popular movie in 1933 was King Kong. =
> But everyone in Hollywood was talking about that scandalous movie with =
> the gorgeous, young Austrian woman.
> Louis B. Mayer, of the giant studio MGM, said =
> she was the most beautiful woman in the world. The film was banned =
> practically everywhere... which of course made it even more popular and =
> valuable. Mussolini reportedly refused to sell his copy at any price.
> The star of the film, called Ecstasy, was =
> Hedwig Kiesler. She said the secret of her beauty was "to stand there =
> and look stupid." In reality, Kiesler was anything but stupid. She was a =
> genius. She'd grown up as the only child of a prominent Jewish banker. =
> She was a math prodigy. She excelled at science. As she grew
> older, she became ruthless, using all the =
> power her body and mind gave her.
> Between the sexual roles she played, her =
> tremendous beauty, and the power of her intellect, Kiesler would =
> confound the men in her life... including her six husbands, two of the =
> most ruthless dictators of the 20th century, and one of the greatest =
> movie producers in history.
> Her beauty made her rich for a time. She is =
> said to have made - and spent - $30 million in her life. But her =
> greatest accomplishment resulted from her intellect... and her invention =
> continues to shape the world we live in today.
> You see, this young Austrian starlet would =
> take one of the most valuable technologies ever developed right from =
> under Hitler's nose. After fleeing to America, she not only became a =
> major Hollywood star... her name sits on one of the most important =
> patents ever granted by the U.S. Patent Office.
> Today, when you use your cell phone or, over =
> the next few years, as you experience super-fast wireless Internet =
> access (via something called "long-term evolution" or "LTE" technology), =
> you'll be using an extension of the technology a 20- year-old actress =
> first conceived while sitting at dinner with Hitler.
> At the time she made Ecstasy, Kiesler was =
> married to one of the richest men in Austria. Friedrich Mandl was =
> Austria's leading arms maker. His firm would become a key supplier to =
> the Nazis.
> Mandl used his beautiful young wife as a =
> showpiece at important business dinners with representatives of the =
> Austrian, Italian, and German fascist forces. One of Mandl's favorite =
> topics at these gatherings - which included meals with Hitler and =
> Mussolini - was the technology surrounding radio-controlled missiles and =
> torpedoes. Wireless weapons offered far greater ranges than the =
> wire-controlled alternatives that prevailed at the time. Kiesler sat =
> through these dinners "looking stupid," while absorbing everything she =
> heard...
> As a Jew, Kiesler hated the Nazis. She =
> abhorred her husband's business ambitions. Mandl responded to his wilful =
> wife by imprisoning her in his castle, Schloss Schwarzenau. In 1937, she =
> managed to escape. She drugged her maid, snuck out of the castle wearing =
> the maid's clothes, and sold her jewelry to finance a trip to London.
> (She got out just in time. In 1938, Germany =
> annexed Austria. The Nazis seized Mandl's factory. He was half Jewish. =
> Mandl fled to Brazil. Later, he became an advisor to Argentina's iconic =
> populist president, Juan Peron.)
> In London, Kiesler arranged a meeting with =
> Louis B. Mayer. She signed a long-term contract with him, becoming one =
> of MGM's biggest stars. She appeared in more than 20 films. She was a =
> co-star to Clark Gable, Judy Garland, and even Bob Hope. Each of her =
> first seven MGM movies was a blockbuster.
> But Kiesler cared far more about fighting the =
> Nazis than about making movies. At the height of her fame, in 1942, she =
> developed a new kind of communications system, optimized for sending =
> coded messages that couldn't be "jammed." She was building a system that =
> would allow torpedoes and guided bombs to always reach their targets. =
> She was building a system to kill Nazis.
> By the 1940s, both the Nazis and the Allied =
> forces were using the kind of single- frequency radio-controlled =
> technology Kiesler's ex-husband had been peddling. The drawback of this =
> technology was that the enemy could find the appropriate frequency and =
> "jam" or intercept the signal, thereby interfering with the missile's =
> intended path.
> Kiesler's key innovation was to "change the =
> channel." It was a way of encoding a message across a broad area of the =
> wireless spectrum. If one part of the spectrum was jammed, the message =
> would still get through on one of the other frequencies being used. The =
> problem was, she could not figure out how to synchronize the frequency =
> changes on both the receiver and the transmitter. To solve the problem, =
> she turned to perhaps the world's first techno-musician, George Anthiel.
> Anthiel was an acquaintance of Kiesler who =
> achieved some notoriety for creating intricate musical compositions. He =
> synchronized his melodies across twelve player pianos, producing =
> stereophonic sounds no one had ever heard before. Kiesler incorporated =
> Anthiel's technology for synchronizing his player pianos. Then, she was =
> able to synchronize the frequency changes between a weapon's receiver =
> and its transmitter.
> On August 11, 1942, U.S. Patent No. 2,292,387 =
> was granted to Antheil and "Hedy Kiesler Markey," which was Kiesler's =
> married name at the time.
> Most of you won't recognize the name Kiesler. =
> And no one would remember the name Hedy Markey. But it's a fair bet than =
> anyone reading this newsletter of a certain age will remember one of the =
> great beauties of Hollywood's golden age ~ Hedy Lamarr. That's the name =
> Louis B. Mayer gave to his prize actress. That's the name his movie =
> company made famous.
> Meanwhile, almost no one knows Hedwig Kiesler =
> - aka Hedy Lamarr - was one of the great pioneers of wireless =
> communications. Her technology was developed by the U.S. Navy, which has =
> used it ever since.
> You're probably using Lamarr's technology, =
> too. Her patent sits at the foundation of "spread spectrum technology," =
> which you use every day when you log on to a wi- fi network or make =
> calls with your Bluetooth-enabled phone. It lies at the heart of the =
> massive investments being made right now in so-called fourth-generation =
> "LTE" wireless technology. This next generation of cell phones and cell =
> towers will provide tremendous increases to wireless network speed and =
> quality, by spreading wireless signals across the entire available =
> spectrum. This kind of encoding is only possible using the kind of =
> frequency switching that Hedwig Kiesler invented.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr=20
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