As 3G rolls out the mystery resurfaces - did Hedy Lamarr, a beautiful Hollywood film star of the 1930s and 40s, really invent spread spectrum? This technology underlies 3G and a lot else besides, Bluetooth and WLAN for example. When Hedy took out her patent in 1942 there was another name on the document – George Antheil. The neat solution to this whole thing would be to discover that George was a university professor specialising in clever radio technology. Sorry, George was a piano player and composer with a side interest in breast enlargement and as much knowledge of radio as can be stuffed into a baked bean.

And so the mystery deepens. But enlightenment is now available. In a new book that tells the story of mobile from its early beginnings to the arrival of spread spectrum and the third generation, the contribution of Hedy and George is carefully assessed. It is a book that adds a little sex, culture and glamour to a story that might otherwise moulder between the dusty covers of arcane textbooks. It is a book that explains spread spectrum simply, and throws more light on its surprising origins.

Rob Walters, the author of the new book, "Spread Spectrum: Hedy Lamarr and the mobile phone," knows where the bodies are buried. He delivered the first courses on UMTS and 3G in the UK and in many other countries. About his book he comments, "I was always intrigued by the role of Hedy Lamarr in the evolution of spread spectrum – and so were my students. The involvement of a Hollywood film star certainly pepped up my lectures and I am grateful to Hedy for that. I have tried to place her role and that of her piano-playing partner in context within the evolution of 3G. It makes an interesting story."

Many inventors have a place in the evolution of spread spectrum technology, amongst them are Edwin Armstrong, most famous for his work on frequency modulation and Claude Shannon the man who provided us with a theory of information which underwrites all forms of communication in noisy environments. However, the most exotic contributors to this ubiquitous radio technology must be Hedy Lamarr and her piano playing assistant George Antheil. Rob’s book investigates their role in the development of spread spectrum whilst outlining the evolution of radio from its early days through to its use in mobile telephony and the application of spread spectrum in the third generation.

She was an actress labelled by Hollywood as "the most beautiful girl in the world" and was the first woman to appear entirely naked on the silver screen. He was the self-named "bad boy of music" and the composer of the Ballet Mecanique, a piece that shocked avant-garde Paris and caused riots in the Carnegie Hall. So how the devil did this unlikely pair come to invent something as important as spread spectrum? And, more to the point, did they?

This book is essential reading for anyone involved in, or with an interest in, mobile or the many applications in which spread spectrum is currently deployed. It is not a deeply technical book and is therefore accessible to anyone with an interest in the topic. On the other hand it is not a fluffy book, it does have depth and carefully traces the evolution of spread spectrum from its early implementations through to its present popularity.

The book is all about Hedy and George and the many interesting people involved in the evolution of the radio technology that we now called spread spectrum. Along the way it picks up on some surprising twists in the story of radio itself and of the mobile phone.

This book may change your image of invention and inventors. It will certainly give you a glimpse into the life of a most unusual Hollywood star and the life of a zany composer who excelled in the rarefied atmosphere of 1920s Paris and then was himself drawn to Hollywood. It will also give you a greater understanding of that most successful of radio technologies – spread spectrum.

General release date: April 2006

Title: Spread Spectrum: Hedy Lamarr and the mobile phone

Author: Rob Walters

ISBN 1-4196-2129-7

Publisher: Booksurge

Availability: On-line from Amazon and Booksurge and via all good bookshops