The frequency-hopping technology was invented by Hedy Lamarr, based on the principle of the auto-playing piano, which enables the transmission of signals from both the receiver and the sender to jump synchronously and separately on a set of pre-specified frequencies according to the sequence specified in the coding sequence, thus spreading the spectrum and realizing the communication. From the perspective of the creative thinking, Hedy Lamarr's technological innovation can be described in four steps:the contact spread spectrum, the inspiration source, the principle design, and the principle application. It is suggested that the scientific imagination plays a fundamental and key role in the Hedy Lamarr's innovation. The scientific imagination can be regarded as an illogical manifestation of the creative thinking, which not only provides new ideas for the "bottleneck" problem of the technological innovation, but also provides new solutions for the "problem-solving" activity of the technological innovation.

Hedy Lamarr  /  scientific imagination  /  creative thinking  /  technological innovation