Hedy Lamarr

Born Hedwig Kiesler to a Jewish family in Vienna, Lamarr became a Hollywood star while pursuing invention on the side. In 1942, with composer George Antheil, she patented a 'Secret Communication System' (US Patent 2,292,387) using frequency hopping to make radio-guided torpedoes jam-resistant; the spread-spectrum principle later underpinned Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Her documented Jewish heritage, which she concealed during her career, was on both sides of her family.