I had an optometrist’s appointment yesterday and while waiting, picked up a copy of Bloomberg Business Week (Dec 5-11, 2011).   It contained an article about one Hedwig Kiesler - perhaps better known to us older folk as the actress Hedy Lamarr who was tagged by the Hollywood studios as the most beautiful woman in the world.

I also recalled that I had previously read the facts in the article quite some time ago , but had completely forgotten all about it.

I found it fascinating that Hedy was the holder of US patent #2292387 - Secret Communication System - a methodology for creating a jam proof radio guidance system for torpedoes.  Her basic idea was to use spread spectrum technology.

Prior to this idea, radio control was limited to a single frequency.  The problem with this was that the Nazi’s could easily detect the signal and jam it, forcing loss of control of the torpedo.  If the control signal was spread out over multiple frequencies, and you hopped around over these frequencies, the signal could not be detected or jammed.

Hold it  - you may be asking, an actress inventing guidance systems for torpedoes?  Yep. And that is not all, her collaborator on this was George Antheil, an avant-garde composer and writer.  He had created a 1924 composition entitled “Ballet Mécanique” that required the synchronization of 16 player pianos.  From the solution for this problem came their invention to guide torpedoes.

Several things struck me. 

First, if we asked either of those two to invent a jam proof guidance system for torpedoes - they probably would have thought you were crazy, and would have gone back to work composing and acting.

Second, if we tasked some researchers with the same objective, they may never have come up with spread spectrum technology.

Third, if you asked any funding body to fund the work of the artists, you would probably have been met with comments such as: Why can’t they fund themselves  instead of asking for handouts?

Yet, these artists did invent spread spectrum technology, even though it was not their primary goal.  How did they do it?  It was a serendipitous connection of unrelated concepts to create a completely new idea.  You can find this creative process in both science and the arts, and perhaps one could argue that those in the arts are better trained to accomplish this.

What drove Hedy to do this?  She was anxious to defeat the Nazis in any way she could - and certainly jam proof torpedoes seemed to be a no brainer.  Curiously enough, the military seemed to ignore this invention - at least until the patent ran out - and they “re-invented”  and used it just before the Cuban Missile crisis.

I just finished re-reading Isaacson’s “Einstein” and read the following right near the end.

One day during the 1930s, Einstein invited Saint-Jean Perse to Princeton to find out how the poet worked. ‘How does the idea of a poem come?’ Einstein asked.  The poet spoke of the role played by intuition and imagination. “It’s the same for a man of science,” Einstein responded with delight. “It is a sudden illumination, almost a rapture.  Later, to be sure, intelligence analyzes and experiments confirm or invalid the intuition.  But initially there is a great forward leap of the imagination.”

So - great forward leaps can be made - by any person - in any field.

I think this is the notion behind the concept of DIY innovators as discussed in the current book:

Abundance - The Future is Better Than You Think

http://www.abundancethebook.com/about-the-book/

Hedy was certainly a DIY innovator.

References

1) Ricard Rhodes - Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful woman in the World

2. 2)Female Inventors: Hedy Lamarr
   

[See all blog articles]