The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 19

SUNDAY NEWS JOURNAL A1 9 AUG. 31, 1997 A Hedy Lamarr's torpedo invention finally scores a hit irnv wmsm nt 8J ill II ii ivwjifjp mjlei 10 (MM HNFNHIT We wouldn't have it any other way. You see the quiet, community hospital is The Chester County Hospital. And you might not know that we're at the forefront of advanced treat I I AP ment in many areas-from neonatology and oncology to diagnostic and surgical services. We're expanding our resources in so many ways, from our affiliation with The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and our membership in the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Network to building 3 -JSf'ijX 1 lz i In the late 1950s, after Lamarr and Antheil's patent expired, Syl-vania engineers independently developed a similar concept.

Their device, using electronic controls instead of paper rolls, became the foundation for the secure military communications used today. The fact that two artists had beaten the engineers to the punch by nearly two decades seemed destined to escape public notice forever. In the Cold War era, the military expanded its use of frequency hopping (also known as spread spectrum) technology, relying on it to secure communications during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. But the idea was not widely known in the civilian world. All of that changed in the 1990s, as telecommunications became a bigger part of everyday life.

Interest in frequency hopping grew because it is one way to enable multiple users to share a single radio frequency an important task as more and more pagers, cellular phones and other devices crowd into limited airwave space. With the growth in magazines and journals devoted to telecommunications, and abundant Internet sites on the topic, the work of Lamarr and Antheil (who died in 1959) found an eager audience. Robert Price, a Lexington, electronics consultant who worked on research and development of communications systems for the military and industry, said Lamarr deserves credit for her original idea. "Whether others conceived the idea independently or not, it was still her idea," he said. Price said the MILSTAR system, designed to launch intercontinental nuclear missiles, may be the most important application of Lamarr's concept.

"Her technology survived to the present day in one major system on which the security of the U.S. depends," he said. a network of facilities throughout Chester County in areas such as physical therapy, sports medicine, occupational medicine, home care and much more. Above all, it is our dedication to providing technologically advanced treatment that has enabled us to maintain a high level of health care for the people of Chester County, right here in Chester County. To learn more, call us at 431-5697.

Because the more you know about us, the better you'll feel. Hedy Lamarr (In 1941), with George Antheil, patented a system that became part of cell phone technology. those controlling player pianos: The couple's design specified the use of such perforated rolls to match the split-second hops in radio frequencies. The number of frequencies to be used, 88, matched the number of keys on a piano. $50,000 kisses Lamarr and Antheil sent their idea to the National Inventors Council, a Commerce Department division that had been created to encourage ideas from the general public, and patented their idea.

But after turning their idea over to the government for the war effort, the composer and screen siren largely were ignored. Lamarr also offered to work for the National Inventors Council, but was told she could be more helpful selling War Bonds as a celebrity. She obliged, selling $7 million worth of bonds in a single day by offering kisses at $50,000 a pop. THE CHESTER COUNTY HOSPITAL The Health Seruork of The Chester County Hospital riiwgwM.fi The Best in Beauty ULTIMA II HAS A FREE GIFT FOR YOU By PETER Y. HONG Los Angeles Times Hedy Lamarr, the star of such films as "The Heavenly Body" and "Dishonored Lady," secured her place in history more than 60 years ago as the first woman to romp naked across a commercial movie screen.

Now 82, she is again captivating fans for revolutionary work of a different sort: her little-known contributions to technology that are being used today in military communications. In 1940, Lamarr, who had learned about weaponry through her marriage to an arms manufacturer, joined with the "avant garde" composer George Antheil to invent an anti-jamming device for radio-controlled torpedoes. The Navy ignored the device. But years later, after the patent expired, the Lamarr-Antheil idea independently was advanced by other scientists and helped form the basis for the anti-jamming technology now used in the U.S. military's $25 billion MILSTAR defense communications satellite system.

Lamarr's role in "frequency hopping," overlooked for decades, is now as hot with techno-enthusi-asts as pin-ups of Lamarr were with World War II servicemen. Schematic drawings of her patent appear on Internet Web sites. The actress, who never won an Oscar, is being showered with awards from inventors groups. Her most recent tribute will be accepted by her son today at the Invention Convention in Pasadena, Calif. Lamarr, who lives outside Orlando, is reluctant to speak to reporters, according to her son, Anthony Loder, who declined to forward a request for an interview.

The inventors who selected Lamarr for the annual Pasadena showcase's "Bulbie" award were surprised when they read about her work in technical publications. "My mouth dropped wide open," said showcase chairman Stephen Gnass. Marries millionaire as teen The tale begins with the plight of a young woman trapped by an older, domineering husband. As a teen-age actress in Vienna, Hedy Kiesler married a millionaire arms maker named Fritz Mandl. Mandl was obsessed with his young bride, keeping her constantly at hifl side.

So at an age when she might have entered a university, Lamarr instead was listening in on her husband's discussions of weapons systems with his engineers, soaking up the latest information on munitions, she wrote in her autobiography. Although Mandl kept Lamarr near him as a trophy wife, her mind was sharp her parents had hired private tutors throughout her childhood and put her in elite private schools in Vienna. Lamarr soon lost interest in her husband, and was disturbed by his arms sales to Nazis. Afraid of losing his wife, Mandl employed the household servants as guards, placing Lamarr under virtual house arrest. One day when Mandl was on a trip abroad, his wife slipped sleeping pills into her maid's coffee and, dressed in a servant's uniform, boarded a London-bound train.

In London she met studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who signed her to a $500-a-week MGM contract and gave her the name Hedy Lamarr. Her influence on America began even before she took her first Hollywood part. Lamarr was notorious for her nude role in the 1932 film "Ecstasy." The Czech production was banned in the United States until 1935. In Hollywood, she played roles opposite Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable and was popular as a "femme fatale" in parts such as her title role in "Samson and Delilah." At a dinner party in 1940 at the home of actress Janet Gaynor, Lamarr engaged composer George Antheil in a discussion ott the perils of Nazism.

According to an article in Forbes magazine, Lamarr told Antheil of an idea she had for a device to protect U.S. radio-guided torpedoes from enemy attempts to jam them. Lamarr thought a signal could be broadcast over a series of quickly changing frequencies. The signal could be picked up by a receiver within the torpedo that would be synchronized to switch frequencies along with the transmitter. Intrigued, Antheil suggested they develop the idea together.

Lamarr agreed, and scrawled her phone number in lipstick across the windshield of Antheil's car. A wildly experimental composer, Antheil once had scored a composition for 16 synchronized player pianos, two electrically driven airplane propellers, four xylophones, four bass drums and a siren. Now, he proposed controlling the frequencies for the transmitter and receiver wii paper rolls like 1 i A collection of the best in beauty Yours FREE with any $15 Ultima II purchase Ultimate Radiance contains: Double Feature Lipstick in Ice Plum Super Luscious Lipstick in Natural Cocoaberry UII Sheer Scent Fragrance GUEA3VITEAM Interactives NormalOily Cleanser Wonderwear Mascara in Black Glowtion 1 For your purchase may we suggest: Vital Radiance Skin Perfecting Lotion 22.50 Vital Radiance Skin Perfecting ..22.50 (2373) Not available at Franklin Mills or Godfrey Ave. 4- -f-.