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Birth
On December 9, 1906, Grace Brewster Murray was born to Walter Fletcher Murray and Mary Campbell Horne Murray in New York City. -
Interest At An Early Age
At the age of 7, Hopper had already began to show an interest in gadgets and would disassemble alarm clocks to figure out how they worked. -
Application to Vassar College
At the age of 16, Hopper applied to Vassar College. However, because she had previously failed a Latin Exam, the school told her she must wait a year to be admitted. During this time, she attended boarding school at Hartridge School in New Jersey. -
Graduation from Vassar College
In 1928, Hopper graduated from Vassar College Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics. -
Yale University & Marriage to Vincent Hopper
At the age of 23, Hopper received her Master's degree in mathematics from Yale University. In that same year, she married Vincent Foster Hopper, who was an English instructor at the New York School of Commerce. -
An Associate Professor
Vassar College hired Hopper as a mathematics professor with a salary of $800 per year. She taught there from 1931 to 1943. During that time, Hopper also earned her Ph.D from Yale University and was promoted from instructor to associate professor. -
Published Paper
In 1936, Hopper published a paper on "The Ungenerated Seven as an Index to Pythagorean Number Theory" in American Mathematical Monthly. -
The U.S. Naval Reserve
Hopper was sworn into the U.S. Naval Reserve and went onto train at Midshipman's School or Women, graduating first in her class. The process to join the Navy was not easy, however. Because Hopper was 34 and only weighed 105lbs, she was considered underweight and overage. These obstacles did not stop her, and she obtained a waiver for her weight requirement and special government permission to join. -
Naval Ordinance Development Award
Hopper's first assignment was under Commander Howard Aiken at the Bureau of Ordinance Computation at Harvard. She became the third programmer of the Mark I, which was the world's first large-scale automatically sequenced computer. -
Computer "Bugs"
During her work with the Mark II, Hopper was credited with coining the term "bug" when referring to a glitch in computer machinery. During the mid 1950's, Hopper extended the meaning of the term "debug" to include removing programming errors. -
No Longer In-Service
At the age of 40, Hopper was told that she was too old to remain in service. She turned down an offer to renew her position at Vassar, and chose to remain at Harvard as a civilian research fellow in engineering sciences and applied physics until 1949. -
BINAC
Hopper left Harvard and joined Eckert-Mauchley Computer Corporation as a senior mathematician. She worked directly with the BINAC, the Binary Automatic Computer, which was programmed using C-10 code instead of the punched cards utilized by the Mark Series. -
A-0
She remained with the company after Remington rand bought it out and worked to develop the first compiler, A-0, which translated symbolic mathematical code into machine code. -
UNIVAC
Hopper published her first paper on compilers. She suggested that the UNIVAC could be programmed to recognize english commands and succeeded in developed the B-0 compiler, later on known as the FLOW-MATIC. The FLOW-MATIC was used for typical business tasks such as payroll calculation and automated billing. -
Retirement
Age forced Hopper to retire from the Naval reserves. However, less than 7 months after her retirement, the Navy was unable to develop a working payroll plan after 823 attempts. Hopper was reinstated, and this made her the first woman to return to active duty. During this time, she aided with the production of a generally accessible COBOL Certifier. -
Rank of Commodore
By special Presidential appointment, Hopper was promoted to rank of Commodore. Two years later, she became one of the first women to be elevated to the rank of Rear Admiral. -
Retirement
After 43 years of service, RADM Grace Hopper retired ceremoniously on the deck of the USS constitution. -
A Full Life
She was the first person from the US & the first woman to be made a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society in 1973. The Navy christened a ship in her honor. In September, 1991, she was awarded the National Medal of Technology, the nation's highest honor in engineering and technology. Rear Admiral Grace Brewster Murray Hopper died January 1, 1992. She was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
