In one of the odder news stories I have read today, it says that in the 40s, the actress Hedy Lamarr made a major contribution to Mobile phone networks.
When she heard about a uboat sinking a ship with 90 British schoolkids abroad, she started working on an idea.
That idea was to have a plane flying overhead and controlling a torpedo in the water.
She wondered how to counteract jamming and was, apparently, the first person to suggest jumping to different frequencies, in an effort to avoid jamming. This is something that I believe mobile phones do, but not to avoid jamming.
She can't claim credit for developing the techniques used to keep both transmitter and reciever on the same frequency though. That goes to her partner, George Anthell.
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/11/3...ails_new_book/
Clearly a woman who was both beatiful and intelligent.