barnett@trwspp.UUCP (10/11/84)
In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria and a lovely young
actress neamed Hedwig Kiesler left her munitions-
magnate husband, came to America, married a writer
named Gene Markey, moved to a cottage in Benedict
Canyon and continued acting in films under the
billing of "The World's Most Beautiful Woman."
But she remained worried about Hitler's occupation
of her country and his seemingly irresistable ad-
vances ascross Europe.
BITS AND PIECES OF ELECTRONICS
At home in Austria, Hedwig Kiesler had spent many
hours with her first husband and his engineering
experts as they tried to solve one of their most vex-
ing engineering problems: controlling their torpe-
does, which rearely struck their elusive targets.
Unusually bright, Kiesler remembered bits and pieces
of the technical information she'd been privy to at
home. Recalling her husband's problems with his
torpedoes, she now wondered if a solution might be
found, thus helping the Allies against Germany.
AT HOME IN BENEDICT CANYON
She also knew American composer George Antheil who,
it turned out, had a fair grasp of electronics;
together, they set out to create an effective torpedo
guidance system.
In the 1920s, Antheil had synchronized player pianos
for his opus Ballet Mechanique, and he would capital-
ize on his Mechanique synchronization scheme to
guide the torpedoes.
Stretched out on Kiesler's carpet, Kiesler and Antheil
began sketching circuit diagrams for the electronics,
using his player peiano experience and her knowledge of
her first husband's guidance problems.
The design worked like this: A transmitter used slotted
paper similar to a piano roll to randomly set the duration
and frequency-hopping sequence of signals in 88 or
more frequencies. The torpedo had an identical roll to
receive the transmissions and guide itself to the
target.
It was a potent anti-jamming concept. Unless the
adversary knew the random sequence of holes in the
paper, he could neither jam the torpedo, nor deflect
it by fake transmissions.
THE PATENT
On August 11, 1942, US PAtent No. 2,292,387 was awarded
to H>K> (Hedwig Kiesler) Markey, with Antheil listed
as co-inventor.
THE ACTRESS
Who was Hedwig Kiesler Markey, the world's most
beautiful woman?
Ten years earlier she gained world fame by
** running "nude" through the Austrian
woods in a film called Ecstacy **
and now she was the inventor of a jam-proof frequency-
hopping scheme to guide torpedoes against Nazi
warships.
In America, she was known as screen actress Hedy Lamarr.
(Extracted from IEEE Spectrum).
** now you know what it has to do with net.rec.nude!