Lipstick and Runes: Hedy Lamarr and the History of Bluetooth

Listeners, please note that this episode was recorded before the show’s name changed to Found in the Machine, so you’ll hear the old name in this episode. 

Look at your phone settings. There's a small angular icon there that you've probably never thought about much. It's a bind rune showing two characters from the ancient Younger Futhark alphabet, fused together. It's on billions of devices worldwide.

How that symbol ended up there is two stories separated by half a century. One starts with a Hollywood actress listening at a dinner table full of fascists. The other starts with two engineers bombing a pitch meeting and ending up in a Canadian pub.

In this episode

• Hedy Lamarr - after the cameras and the dinner parties
• The patent - a collaboration and what the Navy said about it
• Two engineers in a pub - a failed pitch meeting and a conversation about Vikings and a Danish king

Episode Music

• James Opie / Nihilore, CC BY 4.0
  • "Morning Bell" 
  • "Noctivagant (Orchestral Version)" 
  • "Moonlit Skyline"

Additional Reading

Sinclair. (2018, May 17). How the pianola played a part in Hedy Lamarr's invention. American Masters, PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/blog/bombshell-hedy-lamarr-story-pianola-played-part-hedy-lamarrs-invention/

Lamarr, H. (1966). Ecstasy and me: My life as a woman. Bartholomew House. https://archive.org/details/ecstasymemylife00lama

Bedi, J. (2015, November 12). A movie star, some player pianos, and torpedoes. Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, Smithsonian Institution. https://invention.si.edu/invention-stories/movie-star-some-player-pianos-and-torpedoes

Kardach, J. (n.d.). Naming Bluetooth. https://www.kardach.com/bluetooth/naming_bluetooth

Rhodes, R. (2011). Hedy's Folly: The life and breakthrough inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the most beautiful woman in the world. Doubleday. https://archive.org/details/hedysfollylifea00rhod_0

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Found in the Machine is a narrative technology podcast about the forgotten history of computing, software, and the internet. Hosted by Daina Bouquin, each episode uncovers the true story behind a piece of computer history. These are the forgotten people, decisions, and accidents that quietly shaped the digital world. 

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