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Born in 1906
Grace Brewster Murray Hopper was born on December 9, 1906, in New York City. (Norwood) -
Joins the Navy
In 1943 Hopper left her position at Vassar to join the Navy's WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) program. (Norwood) -
Harvard and the Mark I
Hopper was commissioned as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) and assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard University. She worked with Howard Aiken and a team of skilled computer scientists to create the Mark I. (Norwood) (Seng, 5) See link below for more information.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10-8HO1LfA4xo7CJ6RyCmuw6lr0d1qLhvorWCSvSt7X4/edit?usp=sharing -
Joining the Eckert-Mauchly Corporation
in 1949 she joins the Eckert-Mauchly Corporation in order to continue her work with the development of computing. -
UNIVAC
Hopper worked with John Mauchly and helped to program the UNIVAC. See the link for more information.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11VbEGrPn0OeDHlCu47WbmIYfhTeQDbLXgtHbzLRfZhc/edit?usp=sharing -
Promoted to Commander
in 1966 she was promoted to the rank of Commander. (Norwood) -
Return to Duty
In 1967 Hopper was called back to active duty where she was "assigned to the Chief of Naval Operations staff as Director, Navy Programming Languages Group.” (Norwood) -
Promoted to Captain
In 1973 She was promoted to the position of Captain (Norwood) -
Named a Distinguished Fllow
In 1973 Hopper was named a distinguished fellow of the British Computer Society and became the first woman to hold the title. (Norwood) -
Promoted to Commodore
In 1983 Hopper was promoted to the rank of Commodore (Norwood) -
Retirement and Her Final Promotion
Hopper retired in 1985 and was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral (Norwood) (Seng, 8) -
Period: to
Back to Teaching
After Hopper retired in 1985 she returned to teaching and dedicated the remainder of her life to inspiring her students. According to Hopper's Biographer, "[Hopper's] greatest joy came from teaching". (Norwood) -
Awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal
In 1987 Hopper was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal which is the highest decoration that can be given to those who did not participate in combat.” (Norwood) -
Death
Grace Hopper died on January 1st in 1992 and was interred at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. (Norwood) -
Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
Hopper was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 by Former President Barack Obama who said, "If Wright is flight, and Edison is light, then Hopper is code". (Norwood)
