My name is Hedy Lamarr and I’m… what am I? I guess I’d have to say that I’m an actress, although I haven’t been on the screen for years. I’m also the owner of a film production company, and a former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures star. But I’m much more than that. I’m an engineer. I’m an inventor. I’m intelligent. But none of that matters, because I’m beautiful. The spotlights are on me for things that aren’t representative of everything that I can offer the world.

I still remember the response I received from the National Inventors Council when I offered them my work and training as an engineer in an effort to make a personal contribution to the Allied war effort. According to them, it would be more beneficial for me to base my participation on my looks and my success as an actress, promoting the sale of war bonds. Once again, my brain was worthless, only my body was assigned value.

It was 1941. Half the world was at war, and the other half was about to enter it. I had deeply resented the Nazis ever since a German submarine sank a ship full of refugees, in 1940, when the United States was still neutral. I suppose that part of that resentment was also related to my first husband, businessman Fritz Mandl.

Fritz was much older than me, but my parents forced me to marry him in the wake of the scandal caused by my first appearance in the movies, in Ecstasy. That was the first time that a scene was included in which the actress’s face was seen, with her naked and faking an orgasm. That actress was me. Back in those years, I was still using my original name: Hedwig Eva Maria Kieler. My parents, horrified, thought that Fritz would be able to get me back on track – and boy, did he try. Fritz was extremely jealous, and not only forbade me from undressing, or going for a swim, unless I was in his presence, but he also forced me to attend all his business dinners and meetings. He did it to be able to control and monitor me better, and, incidentally, to burnish his own image a little. I had become arm candy.

Little by little, my marriage to Fritz started to fizzle out and create a terrible feeling of emptiness inside me. One good thing, at least, was that that feeling of emptiness came lit a spark inside me to resume my Engineering studies, which I had abandoned when I was young to pursue my dream of becoming an actress. After that, I took advantage of my husband’s business meetings to gather information on the characteristics of the Nazis’ latest weapon technology. It turned out that this gentleman had supplied the arsenals of Hitler and Mussolini before the Second World War. They held him in such high regard that these people named him an honorary Aryan, even though he was of Jewish origin. Luckily, taking advantage of one of Fritz’s business trips, I managed to escape from the gilded cage in which he had me confined.

My escape was long and tedious. His bodyguards followed me closely until I managed to board the SS Normandie ocean liner, bound for the United States. There, I met Louis B. Mayer, a film producer, who offered me a job before I got to port. He did ask me, however, to change my name so that I wouldn’t be associated with that scandalous first film. I chose “Hedy Lamarr” as my new name, in honor of the silent film actress Barbara La Marr.

My son tells me that, even though the patent from 55 years ago expired without ever being used, no one can dispute that I’m the pioneer of the technique that is now known as “frequency-hopping spread spectrum transmission.” This technical (and apparently distant) name is what is behind many of the transmission and data systems that are in use today by both civilians and the military. 3G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth are some examples. But I’ve been away from the spotlight for years now, isolated in my mansion in Miami. The awards for my inventions are late, and I don’t want to be part of this farce. Maybe I’ll tell my son Anthony and George to go collect the award for me.

Actually, I’m not Hedy Lamar. My name is Ana Martín, and I do research in the field of Quantum Computing. But I could also be any other female scientist on today’s scene. Many of the situations that Hedy experienced throughout her life are ones that are not alien to the scientific and technological world. Our female voice in the field of science and technology is not as loud as we would like.

Two things happen at the same time when you’re a woman and a scientist: great wisdom is not expected of you, and you’re given more opportunities if you’re cute, regardless of what you can contribute to the world. Before achieving prominent professional success, it’s very difficult to make yourself heard in the scientific/technical world, as it’s full of deep, strong voices that have resonated for a long time. If you’re easy on the eyes, you’re given a little more space, but that space depends on others’ eyes, not their ears. It doesn’t matter how relevant or accurate your message is; if you’re cute, they just want to look at you. A trophy on display at the conference.

Fortunately, this doesn’t happen in every sphere of science, and we females are becoming more and more common in offices and laboratories. Nevertheless, it’s undeniable that there’s still a long way to go. The first step is to recognize the situation, and the next one – taking advantage of the fact that people’s eyes are open and they’re alert – is to try to change the instinctive attitudes and thoughts that have infused society for many decades. This is cautious (yet necessary) teamwork to keep moving forward.