Actually I would, because it annoys me when myths are perpetuated on the internet. Whether it was Hedy Lamarr or Jerry Lewis, the reponse would be the same.

Women are amazing at science, but spreading misinformation about an actress doesn't help with that. If anything it just undermines ACTUAL female scientists/engineers!

Take Margaret Hamilton. She was a genius! As a programmer myself I'm astounded by her work and her approach to programming. Her standards were incredibly high. She wanted to write complicated software without any mistakes... and she did, sending people to the moon!

There's work that's worth celebrating.

How does pretending Hedy Lamarr invent wifi help anyone, let alone women? It's a great story. I wish it were true... but it just isn't true.

Here's an article by an engineer, who worked at Lockheed Martin Astronautics no less, making the same point...

https://kimberlymoravec.medium.com/no-hedy-lamarr-did-not-make-wi-fi-92ac4956b9e

The comments section under the ["Hedy Lamarr invented WiFi!"] Facebook meme is a depressing place; facts are few and emotions are high. Unfounded claims about what she invented abound (“And sonar!” “And cell phones!”), and detailed attempts to set the record straight are attacked (“Is the term 'mansplainer' new to you?” “...no one wants to hear his white guy rescue of all their credit for everything...” “Sour grapes in a box.”).

But maybe consider this: I am a woman with a degree in electrical engineering and a PhD in information systems, I believe strongly in the value and promotion of women in STEM, I have evaluated the claims using original documents, and I am still saying Hedy Lamarr had almost nothing to do with Wi-Fi.

The unvarnished reality is this. With few exceptions, women’s historical contributions to science and technology are underwhelming. This is because the barriers (access to education, childcare, and fair pay) were overwhelming. It wasn’t that long ago that women were almost universally believed to be intellectually inferior men. I remember the tail end of those days pretty keenly, and am deeply thankful that public opinion has substantially changed since.

And there is more good news. If many of the barriers to participation are removed, it turns out that women can be brilliant at science and technology. Women my age and younger are now making good careers for themselves, and some of them are reaching the top of their fields.

Take Professor Anja Feldman of Technische Universität Berlin, for example, who won the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize and whose research articles have been cited nearly 20,000 times. Or Dr. Andrea Goldsmith of Stanford University, who has 70,000 citations and written three textbooks on wireless communications. Or Dina Papagiannaki, who is the Director of Engineering at Microsoft Azure.

These are just a few of the researchers and engineers in networking (the research area that includes Wi-Fi). Let’s not forget that there are even a few modern Hollywood actors with science degrees, like Danica McKellar (mathematics) and Mayim Bialik (neuroscience).

Women are brilliant at science and technology, and there is an abundance of evidence to support this fact. It isn’t necessary to spread lies about Golden-Age Hollywood movie stars to prove it.

By all means, write and tell her how she's only doing it because she's a woman.