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Hedy Lamarr (2018)

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51–60 of 87 posts

Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#51

Like many stories of this kind, the idea that this person "pioneered the basis" of these technologies seems massively overblown. What she and Antheil patented was a system that used frequency hopping to help guide torpedoes, using a piano roll to switch between the frequencies. They did not "invent" frequency hopping, which had been discussed in the literature for 30 years already.

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> I know several extremely competent women in technical roles - like, better than 99% of others in their field regardless of gender. None of them EVER self-refer as "women in tech", or "women who code".

One such person’s explanation why: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14702676>

Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#52

Like many stories of this kind, the idea that this person "pioneered the basis" of these technologies seems massively overblown. What she and Antheil patented was a system that used frequency hopping to help guide torpedoes, using a piano roll to switch between the frequencies. They did not "invent" frequency hopping, which had been discussed in the literature for 30 years already.

And the spread spectrum as used in modern devices is not frequency hopping.

Could you explain what it is, then, and how it differs from frequency hopping?

Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#53
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She got US citizenship, this doesn’t/shouldn’t make her an Austrian-American actress since that implies that she has American roots.

Calling someone X-American implies that they are a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, which she was.

If someone has three citizenships, what then?

Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#54
post #17

Hedy's Folly, by Richard Rhodes. It's a very good book about Hedy Lamar's life and her fame, and work on that patent. It's interesting that the book is not mentioned. The author is the same one that wrote the Making of the Atomic Bomb, which I believe the movie Oppenheimer, was based on. All of his books are very interesting, revealing many of the intricacies, that took place in recent history, making the world we li…

Oppenheimer was based on “American Prometheus”, thus all the Prometheus references.

Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#55
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling someone X-American implies that they are a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, which she was.

If someone has three citizenships, what then?

Great question. If a person has three citizenships, then they have three citizenships.

Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She got US citizenship, this doesn’t/shouldn’t make her an Austrian-American actress since that implies that she has American roots.

You're entitled to your opinion, but the use of the "-American" suffix here is consistent with how it is often used for immigrants, e.g. a Chinese person who immigrates to the US could be described as Chinese-American. Or just American. The demonym can reflect both ethnicity and citizenship. Identity is complicated. Moreover, I don't even know what you mean by "roots." The US is a country of immigrants. What qualifie…

I mean might be wrong to ask this question in a US based forum as you’re mostly going to be biased, but the reality is she is an Austrian that lived in the US. I feel like the hyphen changes her identity which she might not have agreed with.

Well you used a word that is crucial imho, roots, means where you come from, origins. I feel like I tend to have libertarian views regarding choosing your identity, which includes calling yourself American, Austrian or whatever, ultimately it’s you that should make this decision. But just adding hyphens to people with historical significance that decided to move to a country that at the time gave them an economic incentive by having the best market feels dirty. Especially considering that most other countries don’t do this.

Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're entitled to your opinion, but the use of the "-American" suffix here is consistent with how it is often used for immigrants, e.g. a Chinese person who immigrates to the US could be described as Chinese-American. Or just American. The demonym can reflect both ethnicity and citizenship. Identity is complicated. Moreover, I don't even know what you mean by "roots." The US is a country of immigrants. What qualifie…

I mean might be wrong to ask this question in a US based forum as you’re mostly going to be biased, but the reality is she is an Austrian that lived in the US. I feel like the hyphen changes her identity which she might not have agreed with. Well you used a word that is crucial imho, roots, means where you come from, origins. I feel like I tend to have libertarian views regarding choosing your identity, which include…

So in your view, you're qualified to tell us Hedy's preferred demonym, but Wikipedia is not?

Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're entitled to your opinion, but the use of the "-American" suffix here is consistent with how it is often used for immigrants, e.g. a Chinese person who immigrates to the US could be described as Chinese-American. Or just American. The demonym can reflect both ethnicity and citizenship. Identity is complicated. Moreover, I don't even know what you mean by "roots." The US is a country of immigrants. What qualifie…

I mean might be wrong to ask this question in a US based forum as you’re mostly going to be biased, but the reality is she is an Austrian that lived in the US. I feel like the hyphen changes her identity which she might not have agreed with. Well you used a word that is crucial imho, roots, means where you come from, origins. I feel like I tend to have libertarian views regarding choosing your identity, which include…

You think that she became an American citizen and referred to herself as an American actress but didn’t think of herself as an American? The part we’re adding to how she described herself is Austrian, not American.

Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She became a US citizen in 1953. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr

She got US citizenship, this doesn’t/shouldn’t make her an Austrian-American actress since that implies that she has American roots.

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Re: Hedy Lamarr (2018)

#60

Even though I had stumbled/read about Hedy Lamarr earlier, the book "How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World"[1] by Steven Johnson was the one that got me to read it in detail. The book is exciting and would definitely be one of my casual reading suggestions. 1. https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Got-Now-Innovations/dp/1594633...

Weird choices. Clean water is not really on par with the phonograph.
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