Some years ago, I wrote about Hedwig Kiesler, a Viennese scientist born in 1914. She later came to fame as Hedy Lamarr, a film star of Hollywood’s Golden era.
Her contribution to science however far outstripped her contribution as a filmstar. Hedy Lamarr was an inventor. During a small dinner party in 1940, Lamarr met a kindred inventive spirit in George Antheil. She shared one of her concepts with the U.S. Navy and codeveloped a patent with Antheil in 1941. That concept is today known as “frequency hopping” and has made possible such technologies as Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth.
But another famous female Hollywood star, who was also an inventor, contributed much to the scientific world too, she was Gloria Swanson. She was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1899. Today she is known only for her appearances in early silent films and for her role as Norma Desmond in the 1950 Billy Wilder film noir, Sunset Boulevard.
After her silent movie career faded, Swanson needed a career, and she decided in 1939 to invest in science. To this effect she founded Multiprises with an investment of around $200,000 of her own money (approx $3 million today), a profit-sharing enterprise that secured patents and markets for inventions. She used the funds to extricate scientists from war torn Europe to America to continue important work.
There were five scientists that she particularly wanted to get out of Europe. After several trips across the Atlantic, dodging the U-boat menace, umpteen telegrams and visa applications, Swanson, with the help of her intrepid assistant, Iphigenia Engel, succeeded in withdrawing four scientists from Germany: Leopold Karnoil, a plastics expert; Anton Kratsky, a metallurgist; Richard Kobler, an electronics expert; and Leopold Neumann, an acoustical engineer. The fifth “disappeared” and later died in a concentration camp.