Born on November 9, 1914 in Vienna, Austria, Hedy Lamarr (originally named Hedwig Eva Kiesler) had a great interest for innovations as a child. From long walks with her father about the construction of machines to decomposing a music box to analyze how it operated, Lamarr knew she had the ambition and ability to compose new things. Yet soon enough, her intelligence was overshadowed by her remarkable presence on the big screens. Lamarr became an actress at the short age of 16, gaining popularity when she starred in an explicitly-controversial film, "Ecstasy". Her popularity attracted many new male fans, including the wealthy fascist-Austrian arms entrepreneur Fritz Mandl. Shortly, Lamarr became his miserable trophy wife; being constantly controlled and restricted to live the way she desired. During her time with Mandl in the 1930s, she accompanied him in many business and anti-semetic military meetings in which she absorbed new information with a bored face. Her first marriage ended when she escaped to London where she secured her ticket to Hollywood success when she met film producer Louis B. Mayer.

In her time in America, Lamarr met many influential people. One acquaintance in particular was George Antheil, a famous composer and pianist. Lamarr and Anthiel happened to share the same spirit for innovation and shared the same concerns over the impending war, World War II. Anthiel mentioned, "'Hedy said that she did not feel very comfortable, sitting there in Hollywood and making lots of money when things were in such a state.'" Lamarr had great knowledge in weaponry and soon the duo amalgamated to come up with strategies to fight the Axis' powers. At this time the U.S. Navy was facing a turning point in the war, when the Germans repeatedly jammed the radio signals that guided American torpedoes. To aid in the war effort, the pair came up with "Frequency hopping" in 1941. Originally, the Axis' were successful in jamming radio signals because it was over one frequency. Lamarr came up with the idea for the torpedo control to be synchronized, and having the signal travel through numerous frequencies rapidly so the devices don't interfere with each other. There were 88 frequencies created. This system would make it extremely difficult for the Axis powers to jam radio signals because they would only be able to interfere for a brief second until the radio signal hopped to another frequency. Lamarr came up with crafting the idea and Antheil aided in synchronization and other mechanics. Their new invention was the size of a pocket-watch.

Both Lamarr and Antheil were affected by traumatic events caused by Germany, such as the sinking of the SS City of Benares and the annexation of Austria in 1938. In result, the duo spent much time crafting their invention of the frequency hopper in support of the Allied power. Although they dedicated much time doing so, their invention was first rejected by the U.S. Navy for numerous reasons. This was due to the background of the outside inventors, Lamarr was viewed as an "enemy alien" as she immigrated from Austria and was not yet a citizen, and Anthiel was known as the "bad boy of music" during the time. Anthiel claimed the Navy did not understand their advanced tool, not being able to reference the metaphor of player piano to synchronization. The duo was able to receive the patent (No. 2,292,38) they applied for a year later on August 11, 1942 and it was classified as a "Secret Communication System". Despite the rejection, Lamarr continued to raise $25 million ($343 million today) in war bonds in the next year. Lamarr's invention of Frequency Hopping served as a basis for today's "Spread Spectrum", which is used in present day WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular networking. Lamarr and Antheil were never formally credited for their work for a long period of time until the late 90s and early 2000s, although their invention was used during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s. During her lifetime, Lamarr came up with many other inventions as well, such as the design of the fastest airplane for Howard Hughes, and a pill that fizzed up the Cola. Hedy Lamarr was often dismissed because of her status and gender in society. Women were and have been undermined in technological settings for years, but Lamarr never chose to give up.