Cutting Didoes

[Dave Wilton]

> Somewhere in "Starship Troopers" (I think the opening scene) Heinlein
> describes the soldiers as using an encrypted radio in which
> "the frequency wobbled under the control of an atomic clock" so that
> communications could not be intercepted.
>
> Such a technology was invented---and patented---during World
> War II, although it did not come into use until the 1980's.  The
> technology is called "frequency hopping" (it is the most common
> form of "spread spectrum").  What very famous person was the inventor?
>
>              - Jim Landau

That's an easy (if hard to believe) one. The answer is Hedy Lamarr. (The
patent is in her real name, which I forget.) Everytime you use your cell
phone, you have Hedy to thank.