1 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:17,340 Herald Angel: Anja Drephal studied history, American studies, Japanese 2 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:23,720 studies in Berlin and Tokyo in Graz and also in Vienna and when I asked her she 3 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:30,310 said kind of everywhere. So, it's her third talk on a Chaos Communication 4 00:00:30,310 --> 00:00:36,449 Congress. She was here three years ago and two years ago and we are very happy to 5 00:00:36,449 --> 00:00:40,820 have her back - please welcome her! *applause* 6 00:00:45,910 --> 00:00:51,516 Anja Drephal: Thank you! Oh I'm on - that's good! I would have taken that 7 00:00:51,516 --> 00:00:57,469 screwdriver but - okay, it's too bad! Well, thank you all for being here I hope 8 00:00:57,469 --> 00:01:04,420 you all having a good time so far. It's day three and I'm having a good time. It's 9 00:01:04,420 --> 00:01:10,119 a very good Congress. This year unfortunately it's been hard for some 10 00:01:10,119 --> 00:01:15,860 people to actually be here. It's been a nightmare to buy tickets online. So in 11 00:01:15,860 --> 00:01:21,110 addition I'd like to welcome everybody watching a stream from at home or Congress 12 00:01:21,110 --> 00:01:30,360 everywhere so thank you for watching! Anyone of you watching this from at home 13 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:37,960 or anyone of you who has some sort of cell phone mobile device connected to the 14 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:44,869 Congress Wi-Fi has actually been using spread spectrum technology in the past 15 00:01:44,869 --> 00:01:53,759 couple days. But this is not a talk about spread-spectrum technology. Oh, and I 16 00:01:53,759 --> 00:01:56,860 wanted to give a hint to the translations team - in German, that's 17 00:01:56,860 --> 00:02:05,409 "Bandspreizverfahren" and... je suis desolé, je ne sais pas what it means in 18 00:02:05,409 --> 00:02:11,540 French... So, this is not what I want to talk about because I would never pretend 19 00:02:11,540 --> 00:02:17,440 to be an electrical engineer or a fully trained computer scientist who is 20 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:22,850 qualified to explain this very complex technology. 21 00:02:22,850 --> 00:02:31,780 What I want to do is tell you a story, give you a short 20 minute overview of a 22 00:02:31,780 --> 00:02:40,760 person, a remarkable person, who worked on the development of spread spectrum 23 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:48,919 technology about 75 years ago and until recently was not recognized for her 24 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:59,239 accomplishments. Let's say you are an electrical engineer or you are a computer 25 00:02:59,239 --> 00:03:07,459 scientist and you want to learn about this technology. I try to avoid saying it 26 00:03:07,459 --> 00:03:13,050 because it's such a tongue twister and I'm gonna stumble over the spread-spectrum. 27 00:03:13,050 --> 00:03:20,150 So yeah, so you go to your library and you find lots of big handbooks, handbook on 28 00:03:20,150 --> 00:03:26,030 spread-spectrum communication for example and there you usually you have sort of an 29 00:03:26,030 --> 00:03:34,100 introduction with something like this never mind if you can't read it right now 30 00:03:34,100 --> 00:03:40,230 I've uploaded my slides so you can look at it later and I'll also explain anything 31 00:03:40,230 --> 00:03:47,310 that's important this is from an Austrian handbook and of course it mentions a 32 00:03:47,310 --> 00:03:53,470 "Claude Shannon" in 1948 publishing a mathematical theory of communication, a 33 00:03:53,470 --> 00:04:01,410 very important paper, and before that actually it mentions in 1942 "Markey" and 34 00:04:01,410 --> 00:04:07,880 "Antheil" are patenting the first spread- spectrum system ever. 35 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:13,530 So you're wondering who is "Markey" and "Antheil"? Probably some guys at MIT, 36 00:04:13,530 --> 00:04:22,790 right? Working for the military in 1942, developing secret weapons? It could be. 37 00:04:22,790 --> 00:04:27,185 So, ladies and gentlemen, this is Markey. 38 00:04:33,957 --> 00:04:39,970 Hedwig Kiesler born in 1914 in Vienna. 39 00:04:39,970 --> 00:04:46,710 She was a beautiful child, she was 16 when she decided to quit school and become an 40 00:04:46,710 --> 00:04:55,910 actress, she started hanging around the Sascha-Film studio in Vienna. She also 41 00:04:55,910 --> 00:05:02,570 stalked famous director Max Reinhardt until he cast her in his play "The Weaker 42 00:05:02,570 --> 00:05:09,760 Sex". She had a couple more minor roles, she played "Sissi", she played opposite 43 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:18,370 Heinz Rühmann, and it was - oopsie - it was Max Reinhardt who - promoting his play 44 00:05:18,370 --> 00:05:23,350 - coined the phrase "Hedy Kiesler is the most beautiful woman in the world!" and 45 00:05:23,350 --> 00:05:30,851 the press picked it up very quickly. Here she's again. Then when she was 18, she did 46 00:05:30,851 --> 00:05:37,480 something very daring: she starred in Czech film called "Ecstasy". It's very 47 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:42,530 interesting, please ask me about it or watch it on YouTube. There was full 48 00:05:42,530 --> 00:05:52,900 frontal nudity and she faked the first on- screen orgasm. The film was banned, the 49 00:05:52,900 --> 00:05:56,754 Pope denounced it and Hedy became famous. 50 00:05:59,990 --> 00:06:02,990 But then after "Ecstasy", surprisingly, 51 00:06:02,990 --> 00:06:11,240 Hedy stopped acting and she married: this guy. She became the young trophy wife of 52 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:19,030 Fritz Mandl. He was - at that time - the third richest man in Austria. He was the 53 00:06:19,030 --> 00:06:24,877 owner of the "Hirtenberger ammunitions factory", he was also an Austro-fascist, 54 00:06:24,877 --> 00:06:35,440 he supplied weapons to a lot of unsavory individuals and organizations and - as his 55 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:40,250 beautiful young trophy wife - she was supposed to be there at parties, at 56 00:06:40,250 --> 00:06:46,560 meetings with important industrialists, weapons dealers, politicians and to just 57 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:52,600 stand there and look beautiful. But she also listened when they spoke 58 00:06:52,600 --> 00:07:02,199 about developments, about German glide bombs being tested and developed. She 59 00:07:02,199 --> 00:07:09,610 listened and she noticed. After a couple of years, for whatever reason, I think 60 00:07:09,610 --> 00:07:15,338 Mandl was pretty controlling and then jealous, for one reason or another, Hedy 61 00:07:15,338 --> 00:07:22,488 left him and used her "Ecstasy"-fame to go to the US and get a contract at MGM in 62 00:07:22,488 --> 00:07:34,730 1937. Her first film in the US was "Algiers" and this film established her 63 00:07:34,730 --> 00:07:45,150 fame, her new look, her hairstyle and this very distant kind of unsmiling style that 64 00:07:45,150 --> 00:07:50,990 MGM had in mind for her and they also promoted her as the most beautiful woman 65 00:07:50,990 --> 00:08:01,139 in the world. Critics usually agreed that she could not act, but, oh my god, she's 66 00:08:01,139 --> 00:08:12,230 so beautiful, who cares? She... actually, she was not just beautiful. She was also 67 00:08:12,230 --> 00:08:17,610 bored with acting, because usually, working for a studio, you made like two 68 00:08:17,610 --> 00:08:22,673 movies a year, which took a couple weeks, and the rest of the time, well, there was 69 00:08:22,673 --> 00:08:31,790 no Netflix. So, she didn't like to party that much, she read, she painted and she 70 00:08:31,790 --> 00:08:43,828 always invented little gadgets at home. And she also worried, of course, at that 71 00:08:43,828 --> 00:08:47,944 time. She worried about the war going on in Europe. She had... She was an 72 00:08:47,944 --> 00:08:55,340 immigrant, after all. She had friends and family still in Europe and, oh yeah, it's 73 00:08:55,340 --> 00:09:04,306 just a couple of... that's Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, and then she was Delilah in 74 00:09:04,306 --> 00:09:15,660 "Samson and Delilah", Technicolor, yeah, anyway she worried. And that's a fun tweet 75 00:09:15,660 --> 00:09:20,410 I found: "The feeling when you are 3,000 percent done with glam photo shoots and 76 00:09:20,410 --> 00:09:24,320 are inwardly planning a new radio frequency system for torpedoes" 77 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,500 *laughter* I like it. 78 00:09:27,500 --> 00:09:33,523 So that's what she started doing, because she remembered what she had picked up. She 79 00:09:33,523 --> 00:09:39,130 knew about German bombs being controlled by radio, she knew that Germany was using 80 00:09:39,130 --> 00:09:44,860 18 different frequencies for their glide bombs and usually dispatching 18 bombs at 81 00:09:44,860 --> 00:09:49,930 a time so the enemy would have to jam every single frequency and at least one 82 00:09:49,930 --> 00:09:57,460 would - you know - get through. So especially in 1914, when Germany 83 00:09:57,460 --> 00:10:06,200 started sinking English ships in September 1940, 77 children who were being evacuated 84 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:15,946 to Canada died, she offered her knowledge about weapons to the Navy. She thought 85 00:10:15,946 --> 00:10:22,100 about offering it, because she had an idea. These German glide bombs they were 86 00:10:22,100 --> 00:10:29,320 radio-controlled. So why not make torpedoes with radio control to increase 87 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:33,810 their chances of hitting targets and not just going in a straight line and maybe 88 00:10:33,810 --> 00:10:39,570 hitting something or not. Her second idea was to use just really really short 89 00:10:39,570 --> 00:10:46,020 signals just split-second radio signals between the ship, the torpedo and a plane 90 00:10:46,020 --> 00:10:55,870 overhead, in between longer intervals of radio silence. And then her idea was 91 00:10:55,870 --> 00:11:01,500 changing the frequency of the split-second signal, making it harder to intercept and 92 00:11:01,500 --> 00:11:07,560 jam. Let's check, she just said "Okay, let's just use a lot of frequencies and hop!". 93 00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:14,370 She called it "frequency hopping". But of course, the question is: how to do that? 94 00:11:14,370 --> 00:11:17,950 And here's where that second name 95 00:11:17,950 --> 00:11:25,910 mentioned in the patent comes in. This is "George Antheil". He was from New Jersey. 96 00:11:25,910 --> 00:11:33,310 In the 1920s, he moved to Berlin and then to Paris and became famous as an avant- 97 00:11:33,310 --> 00:11:40,000 garde composer and pianist. There's another one... 98 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:46,050 His most famous composition was the "Ballet Mécanique" in 1924, where he tried 99 00:11:46,050 --> 00:11:51,890 to synchronize 16 player pianos and he also used airplane propellers and 100 00:11:51,890 --> 00:11:59,100 sirens... You can also watch it on the internet. Listen to, it's crazy! It was 101 00:11:59,100 --> 00:12:06,150 the score for a movie, actually. So, he knew about synchronizing mechanical 102 00:12:06,150 --> 00:12:14,220 instruments when he met Hedy in 1940 at one of those Hollywood parties. 103 00:12:14,220 --> 00:12:19,600 And they started working together on their secret communication system, which they 104 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:28,860 proposed to the National Inventors Council in 1941. Ah, here he is. There's... The 105 00:12:28,860 --> 00:12:36,530 tall one is Hedy and on the right is George and the woman in the striped dress 106 00:12:36,530 --> 00:12:47,070 is George's wife. So their secret communication system suggested using 88 107 00:12:47,070 --> 00:12:52,660 frequencies, because there are 88 keys on a piano (it was just a little in-joke) and 108 00:12:52,660 --> 00:13:00,880 hopping between them, synchronizing the sender, the transmitter, and the receiver 109 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:07,050 and in addition using random signals on three extra frequencies to just make some 110 00:13:07,050 --> 00:13:12,410 noise. So, you have 88 frequencies and you're hopping on some with the signal. 111 00:13:12,410 --> 00:13:15,760 You're sending one signal there, one signal here, and then you're sending 112 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:23,330 random signals that don't mean anything and if the enemy actually manages to 113 00:13:23,330 --> 00:13:29,170 intercept one of these frequencies, they would be like just one "blip" and it 114 00:13:29,170 --> 00:13:32,889 wouldn't make any sense. 115 00:13:36,028 --> 00:13:39,950 What I want to just quickly talk about is this. 116 00:13:39,950 --> 00:13:44,230 So this is what they thought might happen. 117 00:13:44,230 --> 00:13:51,440 Here's an American ship going there dispatching a torpedo that would usually 118 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:55,950 go here. Here's a German ship and it doesn't go in 119 00:13:55,950 --> 00:14:00,440 a straight line because it's trying to evade the torpedo. 120 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:07,390 Here's plane and the plane is watching and messaging the ship that the torpedo needs 121 00:14:07,390 --> 00:14:12,940 to change its course and the ship is messaging the torpedo "go left, go right, 122 00:14:12,940 --> 00:14:16,265 go left, go right, go left", and then - boom. 123 00:14:19,399 --> 00:14:24,980 For synchronization between the sender and the receiver they suggested using these 124 00:14:24,980 --> 00:14:33,660 paper ribbons with punch holes just like in those mechanical pianos that Antheil 125 00:14:33,660 --> 00:14:35,948 used to be familiar with. 126 00:14:37,596 --> 00:14:44,250 Oh here's actually a notebook that they used for the 127 00:14:44,250 --> 00:14:52,200 mechanism that was supposed to make the sender and the receiver go off at the same 128 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:59,950 time, so they would be synchronized. The New York Times picked it up and - like 129 00:14:59,950 --> 00:15:11,250 they said - the National Inventors Council actually was positive, liked the idea and 130 00:15:11,250 --> 00:15:17,540 suggested that they should patent this. The US patents office awarded them the 131 00:15:17,540 --> 00:15:25,860 patent but the Navy rejected it, eventually. The Navy said it's too bulky, 132 00:15:25,860 --> 00:15:31,700 it's too big, we can't make this. But the question is: Why? 133 00:15:31,700 --> 00:15:36,339 The Navy actually thought because they had said they wanted to use these paper 134 00:15:36,339 --> 00:15:41,360 ribbons just like in a piano and they were like: "We can't put a piano in a torpedo, 135 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:47,161 are you crazy? It's not gonna work!" In fact it would have been much smaller, of 136 00:15:47,161 --> 00:15:53,970 course. And then there was the issue of a Hollywood star, known for her beautiful 137 00:15:53,970 --> 00:16:01,260 face and a crazy composer inventing a weapon system? I don't think so. 138 00:16:01,260 --> 00:16:07,839 Then again the timing was kind of bad right after Pearl Harbor the Navy was in 139 00:16:07,839 --> 00:16:15,010 shock and busy fixing their existing torpedo system. Because in 1942 about 60% 140 00:16:15,010 --> 00:16:20,670 of American torpedoes were duds. They exploded too soon, they didn't explode at 141 00:16:20,670 --> 00:16:28,060 all, they went anywhere and so the Navy was like "Okay, we got to fix this and we 142 00:16:28,060 --> 00:16:33,160 can't really develop anything new right now." And then one point that I've been 143 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:40,320 thinking about is Hedy at that point was still technically an enemy alien. 144 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:48,680 She wasn't naturalized until 1953. So there's obviously always the question of loyalty, 145 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:54,899 I think. Instead, she was... it was suggested that 146 00:16:54,899 --> 00:17:02,970 she should help the war by selling war bonds, which she did very successfully. 147 00:17:02,970 --> 00:17:09,010 She sold seven million of... seven million dollars of war bonds in one day which is 148 00:17:09,010 --> 00:17:12,201 in today's money about 100 million dollars. 149 00:17:12,201 --> 00:17:18,476 She also served cake at the famous Hollywood Canteen. 150 00:17:18,476 --> 00:17:26,459 But her patent seemed to have been forgotten. 151 00:17:28,093 --> 00:17:34,114 It ran out in 1959. She never got anything from it. 152 00:17:34,114 --> 00:17:38,230 She never got any financial gain. Nothing. 153 00:17:38,230 --> 00:17:43,080 But in fact, there was secret military research on this topic. 154 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:47,700 From the 1940s until the 1970s, it was classified. 155 00:17:47,700 --> 00:17:56,019 The first time spread-spectrum technology was used by the military was in 1962, 156 00:17:56,019 --> 00:18:03,330 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. A system called "BLADES" was installed in ships in 157 00:18:03,330 --> 00:18:10,289 the Caribbean and later also in the Mediterranean Sea. And this system using 158 00:18:10,289 --> 00:18:17,580 frequency-hopping spread-spectrum was the only one that could not be jammed at that point. 159 00:18:17,580 --> 00:18:20,720 Civil use of this technology came much 160 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:30,850 much later in the 1970s, 1980s when the FCC started with a deregulation of 161 00:18:30,850 --> 00:18:38,109 frequencies and allowed civil use of various frequencies in... let's say 162 00:18:38,109 --> 00:18:45,299 microwaves, later mobile phones, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc., etc., it actually 163 00:18:45,299 --> 00:18:53,789 started being used in the civil sector. In the early 1990s Dave Hughes, who is 164 00:18:53,789 --> 00:18:59,669 known as an internet pioneer, came across Hedy, researched her patent and lobbied 165 00:18:59,669 --> 00:19:04,661 for her recognition for the first time. 166 00:19:04,661 --> 00:19:08,735 He got her nominated for the Electronic 167 00:19:08,739 --> 00:19:18,149 Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award, which she was awarded in 1997. She was 82 years 168 00:19:18,149 --> 00:19:26,539 old, she didn't leave the house anymore. Her son went there and got that award on 169 00:19:26,539 --> 00:19:31,519 her behalf and supposedly she was very happy about it that she finally got some 170 00:19:31,519 --> 00:19:36,619 recognition. In the past 10 years especially in Austria 171 00:19:36,619 --> 00:19:43,600 there has been at last more recognition of Hedy. There was an exhibition around the 172 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:50,159 country. The Austrian Republic awards the Hedy Lamarr award for achievements by 173 00:19:50,159 --> 00:19:58,779 women in information technology. And Vienna named a street after Hedy. Her 174 00:19:58,779 --> 00:20:03,950 birthday is now "Inventor's Day". In the United States she was finally inducted in 175 00:20:03,950 --> 00:20:08,169 the National Inventor's Hall of Fame two years ago. 176 00:20:08,169 --> 00:20:16,830 Well, I've been trying to speak just 20 minutes giving you an overview of this - I 177 00:20:16,830 --> 00:20:24,860 think remarkable - person who should get much more recognition than she did. 178 00:20:24,860 --> 00:20:34,850 I think I've been a bit faster, actually - that's good. I'm hoping that maybe I've 179 00:20:34,850 --> 00:20:42,090 been able to inspire some interest in this person and maybe inspire as someone to 180 00:20:42,090 --> 00:20:48,013 read up on her or maybe watch her movies. Sadly, she's been all but forgotten. 181 00:20:48,013 --> 00:20:55,984 Her career was... was big and very short. And then she lived on for decades, she was 182 00:20:55,984 --> 00:21:02,580 forgotten, her inventions were forgotten. So, I'm hoping that maybe you'd like to 183 00:21:02,580 --> 00:21:08,799 look at some sources, watch the movies you could contact me. I have some... some 184 00:21:08,799 --> 00:21:17,429 really good books that I read on her that I would recommend. And that would be good. 185 00:21:17,429 --> 00:21:27,629 That would... That would make me very happy, because doing research on Hedy was fun. 186 00:21:27,629 --> 00:21:34,050 It kind of you kind of develop a relationship to a person like that and I like her. 187 00:21:34,050 --> 00:21:39,982 She was she was considered difficult, as a woman, as an actor, 188 00:21:39,982 --> 00:21:47,820 but I think she was considered difficult for doing things that any man would have been considered: 189 00:21:47,820 --> 00:21:51,640 "Yeah, he's a strong guy and he knows what he wants and he does what he wants!" 190 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,679 She was always doing things her own way. 191 00:21:54,679 --> 00:21:57,587 She came to America on her own, alone. 192 00:21:57,587 --> 00:22:03,029 She made her way. She was... She was basically, you could say, she was a refugee. 193 00:22:03,029 --> 00:22:05,109 I mean, she came with a contract, 194 00:22:05,109 --> 00:22:10,690 but she couldn't go back. Austria was gone, there was war. She always missed it 195 00:22:10,690 --> 00:22:15,679 and she had to make her own way. She had to fight for a place in life and she 196 00:22:15,679 --> 00:22:23,059 always tried to find happiness. Unfortunately, she didn't really find it. 197 00:22:23,059 --> 00:22:31,539 And so, in closing, before, we can have a couple minutes for questions, I hope. 198 00:22:31,539 --> 00:22:37,200 I'd like to ask you to give a hand to Hedy. 199 00:22:37,234 --> 00:22:49,134 *applause* 200 00:22:49,144 --> 00:22:51,229 Herald Angel: Thanks a lot, Anya, for this 201 00:22:51,229 --> 00:22:58,690 very nice talk. We have a couple of minutes for questions and answers, so if 202 00:22:58,690 --> 00:23:08,210 you have something that you would like to know, please feel free to go to the mics. 203 00:23:08,210 --> 00:23:10,729 There's something going on online I think. 204 00:23:10,729 --> 00:23:11,729 AD: Okay 205 00:23:11,729 --> 00:23:17,289 Questioner: Yes thank you. I would like to know, are there any compatible stories, 206 00:23:17,289 --> 00:23:24,360 where non-technical people / persons contributed to technology. 207 00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:26,491 AD: I'm not sure 208 00:23:26,491 --> 00:23:28,730 Q: Is there another Hedy? 209 00:23:28,730 --> 00:23:32,289 AD: Oh another Hedy... I'm pretty sure 210 00:23:32,289 --> 00:23:41,179 there is. I can't come up with any example right now, but... maybe someone does. 211 00:23:41,179 --> 00:23:45,320 Because there are so many people, especially women, who are being overlooked 212 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:51,279 for what they're doing like she was. I'm sorry, I can't really come up with any 213 00:23:51,279 --> 00:23:58,169 examples right now. But especially when it comes to women, it's still, sadly, it's 214 00:23:58,169 --> 00:24:05,059 still so hard for women, to be recognized in a technological field like a man would. 215 00:24:05,059 --> 00:24:12,950 This always... Maybe especially when you're this pretty. Nobody thinks that 216 00:24:12,950 --> 00:24:18,929 there's anything behind this pretty face and I know, I would... like, if anyone has 217 00:24:18,929 --> 00:24:26,629 an example that would be great? I'm sure there's a lot of people who are another Hedy. 218 00:24:26,629 --> 00:24:32,960 HA: I think the person on microphone 2 was nodding to that, but you have a question 219 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:33,960 there right? 220 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:39,489 Mic 2: Yeah, that actually kind of covered my question. But I just... first of all 221 00:24:39,489 --> 00:24:46,109 wanted to thank you so much for doing this talk and also maybe to sort of respond to 222 00:24:46,109 --> 00:24:49,090 you. I think, one of the things we could think about is not only women but also 223 00:24:49,090 --> 00:24:55,269 people particularly in what we still call "The Global South" who are doing amazing 224 00:24:55,269 --> 00:24:59,909 work that doesn't get recognized and - you know - we come to conferences and there's 225 00:24:59,909 --> 00:25:06,029 oftentimes not a lot of communication between developers in those places. So I 226 00:25:06,029 --> 00:25:08,860 think it's very likely that's where our next Hedy Lamarr could come from. 227 00:25:08,860 --> 00:25:09,860 AD: Probably. 228 00:25:09,860 --> 00:25:11,049 Mic 2: So that being said I do have a 229 00:25:11,049 --> 00:25:16,289 question for you. Which is: What can everybody here do to try to help avoid 230 00:25:16,289 --> 00:25:19,559 this? How can we think outside the box and be reaching out 231 00:25:19,559 --> 00:25:25,490 to people and maybe uncovering hidden work and sort of breaking the mold? Because 232 00:25:25,490 --> 00:25:29,109 that's what happened to her like, she got stuck in this structure that existed. 233 00:25:29,109 --> 00:25:34,109 AD: By thinking outside the box I think. 234 00:25:34,109 --> 00:25:42,940 By supporting - not just girls - from an early age, you know? To just not look at 235 00:25:42,940 --> 00:25:50,379 this gender stereotypes. You have a girl and so "Yeah, she can't be interested in 236 00:25:50,379 --> 00:25:56,700 technology." You should just be open and be open to anyone who's asking questions, 237 00:25:56,700 --> 00:25:59,399 who wants to learn and support that. 238 00:25:59,399 --> 00:26:04,010 Mic 2: It's really awesome to see so many little girls here - yeah, thanks to all 239 00:26:04,010 --> 00:26:06,179 the parents who are doing that. 240 00:26:06,179 --> 00:26:11,469 *applause* 241 00:26:11,469 --> 00:26:13,539 HA: We have one more question online. 242 00:26:13,539 --> 00:26:18,959 Q: Yes thank you. Can you elaborate a little bit on her formal education? 243 00:26:18,959 --> 00:26:22,200 Was there anything else than Normal School? 244 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:34,349 AD: Yes. Well, she was born in 1914. She went... Typically a girl of her status, 245 00:26:34,349 --> 00:26:41,309 she was from a well-off family, her dad was a banker, went to a girl's school, 246 00:26:41,309 --> 00:26:52,559 which she did. But as far as I've read up, her dad actually supported her learning. 247 00:26:52,559 --> 00:27:03,990 He taught her a lot, he took her hiking, he told her how technical apparatuses work 248 00:27:03,990 --> 00:27:08,590 and he always supported her learning a lot. 249 00:27:08,590 --> 00:27:15,359 But then again, she had the typical formal education of a girl of her age and status. 250 00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:22,879 And when she was 16, she was at a finishing school in Switzerland and she 251 00:27:22,879 --> 00:27:27,770 ran away, because she wanted to be an actress. So I guess, it was not that challenging. 252 00:27:27,770 --> 00:27:30,932 it was nothing that really interested her in that school. 253 00:27:30,932 --> 00:27:34,764 I'm guessing, girls they learned how to be a good wife. 254 00:27:34,764 --> 00:27:41,490 How to, you know, know enough so that you're not too boring for your future husband. 255 00:27:41,490 --> 00:27:45,570 That was the goal of educating girls. 256 00:27:45,570 --> 00:27:48,440 HA: We got another question on Mic 1. 257 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,279 Mic 1: I would like to thank you for this 258 00:27:51,279 --> 00:28:00,969 talk as well and for the intervention just on microphone number 2. I would like to 259 00:28:00,969 --> 00:28:06,529 know what led you to researching Hedy's life and how did you stumble upon this 260 00:28:06,529 --> 00:28:10,509 personality? Because as you said yourself it's hard to, I mean, they're not 261 00:28:10,509 --> 00:28:16,179 recognized - how how do you find her at all? Thank you. 262 00:28:16,179 --> 00:28:19,679 AD: So, how did I find her? I found her 263 00:28:19,679 --> 00:28:27,029 last year. I had never ever heard of her. Never seen any of her movies. Somebody on 264 00:28:27,029 --> 00:28:34,059 Twitter, who I follow, posted a link about her. Like an article online about her 265 00:28:34,059 --> 00:28:39,690 inventions. And I read that and I thought "Wow... That's interesting! Who is that?" 266 00:28:39,690 --> 00:28:45,309 And then I just started googling her and in the end I started buying all these 267 00:28:45,309 --> 00:28:49,820 books and reading and watching her movies and I'm really happy about that because, 268 00:28:49,820 --> 00:28:56,350 as I said, I really like her. So, yeah, Twitter. 269 00:28:59,660 --> 00:29:02,010 HA: , I think... There's someone at Mic 6. Yeah, I 270 00:29:02,010 --> 00:29:06,380 wasn't sure because you sat down again... So please, ask your question now. 271 00:29:06,380 --> 00:29:10,100 Mic 6: I'm not sure, you said like, the 272 00:29:10,100 --> 00:29:15,019 name of the talk was "The Woman Behind Wi- Fi" - can you explain the title and her 273 00:29:15,019 --> 00:29:18,659 position and what was made out of her theory? 274 00:29:18,659 --> 00:29:23,659 AD: Yes, I chose that title, because a lot 275 00:29:23,659 --> 00:29:32,320 of articles... there's a lot of short mentions of her online and they often 276 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:40,019 stressed that she was one of the pioneers of these technologies that eventually led 277 00:29:40,019 --> 00:29:48,081 to today's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. And there's still always this discussion, when 278 00:29:48,081 --> 00:29:53,090 somebody says well yeah she invented Wi-Fi (which I wouldn't say, because she didn't) 279 00:29:53,090 --> 00:30:04,919 but she was one of many pioneers working on this technology the past decades and 280 00:30:04,919 --> 00:30:13,730 there's still always kind of misogynistic backlash when somebody recognizes her 281 00:30:13,730 --> 00:30:21,049 achievement. Then people are always "Yeah, it's so different Wi-Fi and spread- 282 00:30:21,049 --> 00:30:26,409 spectrum today from what she did and she didn't really do anything, it's not that 283 00:30:26,409 --> 00:30:34,259 important!" and that's still today. And I think it is important, what she did. She 284 00:30:34,259 --> 00:30:41,549 was ahead of her time. She thought about something that scientists during that time 285 00:30:41,549 --> 00:30:51,840 could not grasp. It was possible her patent was feasible and it's - to answer 286 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:56,809 your question - it's kind of a little provocative, maybe, the title. 287 00:30:56,809 --> 00:31:05,499 Intentionally to just make you think about "What exactly did she do?". Which is not 288 00:31:05,499 --> 00:31:06,590 that little, I think. 289 00:31:06,590 --> 00:31:12,419 HA: I think regardless of a provocative title it was a really amazing talk and we 290 00:31:12,419 --> 00:31:15,977 would like to thank you one more time, Anja Drephal 291 00:31:15,977 --> 00:31:21,820 *applause* 292 00:31:21,820 --> 00:31:29,886 *music* 293 00:31:29,886 --> 00:31:46,000 subtitles created by c3subtitles.de in the year 2017. Join, and help us!