Modern technology we use everyday invented by Hollywood movie-star

[Richard Crowley]

I had just looked it up recently, and then last night our public TV station aired an episode of "Extraordinary Women", a documentary about famous movie-star Hedy Lamar. She and avant-garde composer George Antheil were awarded the first major patent for spread-spectrum, frequency-hopping technology, which was apparently to complex to be implemented during WW2, but later became an underlying supporting technology for modern digital communication including cell phones, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc.

http://www.google.com/patents/US2292387

[dannyf]

Look at her life's story - one fascinating lady.

There are some pretty smart Hollywood types too. I think Portman went to Harvard? And one of the Harry Potter stars just graduated from Brown?

What it shows is that smarts come in all shapes and forms.

[edavid]

I had just looked it up recently, and then last night our public TV station aired an episode of "Extraordinary Women", a documentary about famous movie-star Hedy Lamar. She and avant-garde composer George Antheil were awarded the first major patent for spread-spectrum, frequency-hopping technology, which was apparently to complex to be implemented during WW2, but later became an underlying supporting technology for modern digital communication including cell phones, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc.

It wasn't a major spread spectrum patent at all (spread spectrum has a very long history - even Tesla filed a patent), and frequency-hopping is not used by cell phones, Bluetooth, or WiFi.  It's still a cool story though.

[Rory]

Look up actor Reginald Denny...

[Dongulus]

It wasn't a major spread spectrum patent at all (spread spectrum has a very long history - even Tesla filed a patent), and frequency-hopping is not used by cell phones, Bluetooth, or WiFi.  It's still a cool story though.

Bluetooth is frequency hopping.

[tggzzz]

And Zeppo Marx stopped being an actor,left Hollywood,...

...and became a successful engineer.

[nanofrog]

Here's a few that might be of interest:

Madonna, IQ of 140
Shakira, IQ of 140
Geena Davis, IQ of 140
Steve Martin, IQ of 152
Sharon Stone, IQ of 158
Quentin Tarantino, IQ of 160
Dolph Lundgren, IQ of 160
James Woods, IQ of 180

Brian May, PhD in Astrophysics
Mayim Bialik, PhD in Neuroscience
Danica McKellar, Mathematician
Art Garfunkel, MS in Mathematics
Mike Judge, Physicist
Dolph Lundgren, MS in Chemical Engineering
Dylan Bruno, Environmental Engineer
Rowan Atkinson, MS EE from Queen's College, Oxford
Tom Scholz, MS Mechanical Engineering
Roger Corman, Industrial Engineering
Herbie Hancock, Electrical Engineering + Music
Montel Williams, General Engineering from the US Naval Academy
Donald Sutherland, Engineering + Drama
Lisa Kudrow, Biology

[dannyf]

Sharon Stone, IQ of 158

Wow!

Maybe Ms. Stone can shake it a little with that thunderfoot guy?

[babysitter]

Really, Hedy Lamarr is impressive in that account, and I even have to confess that I have something for her looks.

Nanofrogs list had some people I was aware of and some new.
This reminded me of the Erdös-Bacon-Numer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s%E2%80%93Bacon_number

Both numbers, Bacon and Erdös, measure by how many persons between you are linked to the work of actor Kevin Bacon or Mathematician Paul Erdös. If you had a role in a film with (Kevin bacon OR person linked to him) AND Autored a paper with (Paul Erdös ÖR person which coauthored with him OR his coauthors OR their coauthors etc.), then you get the Bacon-Erdös number as sum of both.

My boss' kids all work in science, one has a reasonably low Erdös number and the other has not found his Erdös-Number yet, but he was a extra in the Hindenburg made-for-tv movie which gave him a reasonably low Bacon number. Now they need to collaborate with each other and then with me

[dannyf]

Now they need to collaborate with each other and then with me

Anyone needing to prove how smart they are cannot be terribly smart.

[Mechanical Menace]

and frequency-hopping is not used by cell phones, Bluetooth, or WiFi.  It's still a cool story though.

It was definitely used in the early days of the 802.11 set of standards, it would surprise me if it's not at least still in there for backwards compatibility even if it isn't used by the newer standards.

[edavid]

and frequency-hopping is not used by cell phones, Bluetooth, or WiFi.  It's still a cool story though.

It was definitely used in the early days of the 802.11 set of standards, it would surprise me if it's not at least still in there for backwards compatibility even if it isn't used by the newer standards.

It was part of 802.11-1997, but I don't know if anyone used it.  It is not part of WiFi, which began with 802.11b.

[Rigby]

Now they need to collaborate with each other and then with me

Anyone needing to prove how smart they are cannot be terribly smart.

Oh, this is so true.

A corollary: Anyone needing to prove how confident they are cannot be terribly confident.

[Mechanical Menace]

James Woods, IQ of 180

James Woods has an IQ 20 points higher than the tests go? Or is that a joke from him being on Family Guy or something?

It was part of 802.11-1997, but I don't know if anyone used it.  It is not part of WiFi, which began with 802.11b.

Thanks for the info.

[SeanB]

IQ has a rough upper limit of 220, there are a few that have gotten that.

I met a few people that are scary brilliant, but some were definitely in need of a permanent minder, just to keep them dressed and fed. They were truly scatterbrained, but give them a problem that interested them and which they thought was possibly solvable and they would give you an answer, that might take you a week or more to just start to understand. A couple had reserved rooms in a hospital ward, just to keep them somewhat close to sane when needed. No medication, just a routine for a while that did not involve thinking or interaction with other than a limited set of people. paid for by the employer, as a part of the work.

[babysitter]

Now they need to collaborate with each other and then with me

Anyone needing to prove how smart they are cannot be terribly smart.

And anyone removing a important part of a message while quoting is.