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Summary of Grace Hopper Part 1
Grace Hopper earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics and Mathematical Physics from Yale and then turned to the Navy to bring excitement into her life. When Hopper first entered the Navy, she worked under a computer pioneer, Howard Aiken, and learned the programming vocabulary and background of the Mark I. Hopper’s work with the Mark I was the beginning of her career with computer programming languages. -
Summary of Grace Hopper Part 2
Because of her success with the Mark I, Hopper was put on the team to develop with Mark II and make it more user-friendly. In 1946, Hopper left the Navy and Harvard and found herself working with Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. At her new job, Hopper became the head programmer and developed UNIVAC I, A-0, and Flow-Matic. -
Summary of Grace Hopper Part 3
Hopper’s team developed all these languages as step to create a language that uses English-commands so programmers can easily write code. Hopper eventually retired and her work in computer programming was admired and awarded, which made her the first woman to be individually recognize. -
Received her Ph.D. from Yale
In 1934, Hopper received her Ph.D. mathematics and mathematical physics from Yale, while she was teaching mathematics at Vassar college. -
Rejected from joining WWII
After the United States entered World War 2, Hopper tried to join the war, but she was rejected because of her young age and small statue. -
Finally joined the U.S. Naval Reserve
Hopper was able to take a leave of absence from Vassar and she was able to join the U.S. Naval Reserve where she was assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University. -
Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School
After divorcing her husband and joining ht e U.S. Navy, Hopper went to Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School at Smith college whee she "graduated first in her class at Lt. Grace Hopper" (Isaacson). -
Mark I Development
At Harvard, Hopper worked for Howard Aiken. Hopper's job was to program the Mark 1 and write a user manual for the Mark 1. Aiken was impressed with Hopper's ability to use a programmer's vocabulary and wanted her to write the history and guide to the Mark 1.
https://youtu.be/76AmJD9avKg -
Mark II Development
Hopper turned down a full time professor position from Vassar, so she could continue to work on the Mark II and Mark III. The successors of Mark I continued to be funded by the Navy. -
Coined the term "bug"
While Hopper was working on the Mark II, her colleges and her took apart the computer found a large moth. Hopper was the first computer programmer to refer to the "bug" as a computer problem, which then lead to to the term "debugged".
https://youtu.be/-EZS68nXwHo -
Leaving the Navy and Harvard
The Navy refused to give Hopper regular commission because of her age, so Hopper left active service. Harvard also refused to promote Hopper or give her tenure, so she left Harvard as well. -
Joining the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
After leaving Harvard and the Navy, Hopper joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation as senior mathematician. The company was then acquired by Remington Rand. -
UNIVAC I Development
At Hopper's new job, she became the head programmer for Remington Rand where she was part of the team that worked on the Universal Automatic Computer or the UNIVAC I. -
A-0 Compiler
Hopper's team was the first to develop the first computer language "compiler," also known as A-0. With this development, a mathematical code could be read into the machine and translated into a binary code. This compiler would make it possible to write a program for multiple computers instead of one single computer. -
Flow-Matic Development
After A-0, Hopper's team developed a new programming language called Flow-Matic. This language was the first to use English-like commands, instead of using numbers or mathematical symbols. -
Promoting COBOL
Common business-oriented language (COBOL) was first developed as a standard general business computer language. In the 1960's, Hopper promoted COBOL to military and private-sector users, which helped the language be successful in the long run. -
Returning to Active Service
At age 60, Hopper had to retire from the Navy as a commander and months later, she was called back to active services. There were increasing operations in Southeast Asia and the Navy needed Hopper's help to standardized the Navy's computer languages. After called back into active duty, she remained in active duty for 19 more years. -
Retirement
When Hopper was 79 years old, she retired as a rear admiral. At the time, Hopper was the oldest serving officer in the Armed Forces. -
Presidential Award
President George Bush gave Hopper the National Medal of Technology, which made Hopper was the first woman to be honored as an individual. -
Sources Used
- “Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992): A Legacy of Innovation and Service.” YaleNews, 27 Feb. 2017, news.yale.edu/2017/02/10/grace-murray-hopper-1906-1992-legacy-innovation-and-service.
- Isaacson, Walter. “Grace Hopper, Computing Pioneer.” Harvard Gazette, 15 June 2018, news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/12/grace-hopper-computing-pioneer/.
