Grace Hopper

By phartung@arizona.edu

  • Birth

    Birth
    Grace Hopper was born on December 9th, 1906 in New York, New York to her parents Walter Fletcher Murray and Mary Campbell Van Horne (Brittanica).

  • Bachelor's Degree at Vassar College

    Bachelor's Degree at Vassar College
    Grace Hopper graduated from Vassar College with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics in 1928 (Brittanica).

  • Master's Degree at Yale

    Master's Degree at Yale
    Grace Hopper earned her Master's Degree at Yale University in 1930.

  • Marriage

    Marriage
    Grace Hopper married in 1930 to one and only husband Vincent Foster Hopper. They would later divorce in 1945.

  • Ph.D. at Yale

    Ph.D. at Yale
    Grace Hopper earned her Ph.D. in mathematics at Yale in 1934.

  • Bureau of Ships Computation Project

    Bureau of Ships Computation Project
    Grace Hopper graduated first of her class at the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School at Smith College in Northampton. She was assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University as a junior-grade lieutenant. This was were she worked on the programming for the Mark I computer.

  • Employed at the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation

    Employed at the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
    Grace Hopper would work on the ENIAC here (Yale).

  • UNIVAC

    UNIVAC
    Grace Hopper would work here and develop the UNIVAC I. She was also the UNIVAC director of Automatic Programming Development for Remington Rand.

  • The Compiler

    The Compiler
    Grace Hopper would make the first compiler (Brittanica).

  • COBOL

    COBOL
    Harper and her employees would make the first programming language, called COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language) (Brittanica).

  • Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award

    Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award
    Grace Hopper would be awarded this, which was the society's highest honor.

  • Commodore/Rear admiral

    Commodore/Rear admiral
    Grace Hopper would receive her highest ranking as Commodore/Rear admiral in 1983, and it would be redesignated in 1985.

  • The Defense Distinguished Service Medal

    The Defense Distinguished Service Medal
    Grace Hopper was awarded this and it is considered "the highest decoration given to those who did not participate in combat" (Norwood).

  • Death

    Death
    Grace Hopper died in Arlington, Virginia, on January 1st, 1992. This was due to

  • Presidential Medal of Freedom

    Presidential Medal of Freedom
    President Barack Obama would award Grace Hopper and 20 other women this medal. She would be awarded this 24 years after her death (Headrick 5).