The WOW Report

  • WOW Report
  • RuPaul’s DragCon
  • RuPaul’s Drag Race Live!
  • WOW Presents Plus
  • What to Watch
    • Backyard Envy
    • Dancing Queen
    • Fashion Photo RuView
    • Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles
    • Ministry of Evil
    • UNHhhh
    • Watch RuPaul’s Drag Race
  • Store
You are here: Home / Life / Born This Day / #BornThisDay: Grace Hopper

#BornThisDay: Grace Hopper

By Stephen Rutledge on December 9, 2020 3:03 am


1978, photo by Lynn Gilbert via Wikimedia Commons

December 9, 1906 – Grace Murray Hopper:

“It is better to beg forgiveness, than ask permission.”

Hopper was a computer scientist, plus a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. A pioneer in the field, she was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer and she developed the first compiler for a computer programming language. She conceptualized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages with the enterprise operating systems. For her amazing accomplishments and her naval rank, she is sometimes referred to as “Amazing Grace.”

Born Grace Brewster Murray in New York City, Hopper studied math and physics at Vassar College. After graduating from Vassar in 1928, she proceeded to Yale University, where, in 1930, she received a Master’s Degree in Mathematics. Starting in 1931, Hopper began teaching at Vassar while also continuing to study at Yale, where she earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1934, becoming one of the first few woman to earn a degree in that subject.

Hopper continued to teach until World War II compelled her to join the U.S. Naval Reserve in December 1943. She opted for the Navy, because it had been her grandfather’s branch of service. She was commissioned as a lieutenant in June 1944. Given her background, Hopper was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard University, where she learned to program a Mark I computer.

After the war, Hopper remained with the Navy as a reserve officer. As a research fellow at Harvard, she worked with the Mark II and Mark III computers. She was at Harvard when a moth was found to have shorted out the Mark II, and is given credit for the invention of the term “computer bug”.

Wanting to continue to work with computers, Hopper moved into private industry in 1949, first with the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, then with Remington Rand, where she oversaw programming for the UNIVAC computer. In 1952, her team created the first compiler for computer languages (a compiler renders worded instructions into code that can be read by computers). This compiler was a precursor for the Common Business Oriented Language, or COBOL, a widely adapted language that would be used around the world. Though she did not invent COBOL, Hopper encouraged its adaptation.

Hopper retired from the Naval Reserve in 1966, but her pioneering computer work meant that she was recalled to active duty at 60 years old to tackle standardizing communication between different computer languages. She would remain with the Navy for 19 years. When she retired in 1986, at 79, she was a rear admiral as well as the oldest serving officer in the service.

Saying that she would be bored if she stopped working entirely, Hopper took another job post-retirement and stayed in the computer industry for several more years. She was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1991 becoming the first female individual recipient of the honor.

Hopper left this plain of of existence on January 1, 1992. She now lives at Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1997, the guided missile destroyer, USS Hopper, was commissioned by the Navy in San Francisco. In 2004, the University of Missouri has honored Hopper with a computer museum on their campus, dubbed “Grace’s Place”. On display there you can see early computers and computer components to educator visitors on the evolution of the technology.

In addition to her programming accomplishments, Hopper’s legacy includes encouraging young women to learn how to program. The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women In Computing Conference is a technical conference that encourages women to become part of the world of computing, while the Association for Computing Machinery offers a Grace Murray Hopper Award. On her birthday in 2013, Hopper was remembered with a “Google Doodle”. In 2016, Hopper was posthumously honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.

Show the love:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Born This Day, Culture, LBGTQ, Lesbian, Life, Misc, Science & Tech

More

#QWERRRKOUT Tuesday: MOCHA “Imagine If Sailor Moon F*cked a Chav from Essex”!!!

#QWERRRKOUT Tuesday: MOCHA “Imagine If Sailor Moon F*cked a Chav from Essex”!!!

by Paisley Dalton on January 26, 2021 7:15 am

Joe Biden! Kamala Harris! Armie Hammer! Matthew Camp! The WOW Report for Radio Andy

Joe Biden! Kamala Harris! Armie Hammer! Matthew Camp! The WOW Report for Radio Andy

by Blake Jacobs on January 22, 2021 10:38 pm

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Trending


Elliot Page Files for Divorce from Emma Portner

Must-Watch Parody Video OTD: Behind the Scene Conversations at the Inauguration (J-Lo, Gaga, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and More)

Ted Cruz Gets Read to Filth After a Lame Attempt to Slam Biden Rejoining the Paris Accord (P.S. He’s an Idiot)

QAnon Shaman Now Says He Was “Duped” by Trump and “Regrets” His Part in the Capitol Insurrection

Armie Hammer Update: Ex-GF Details The Night He Carved an ‘A’ on Her Stomach

About

From the creators of The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Party Monster, Million Dollar Listing, RuPaul's Drag Race, I Am Britney Jean, Big Freedia, and more.

Ultra Naté Re-Releases #1 Smash Hit & Vid “Free (Live Your Life)”…Watch!
Sarah Jessica Parker! Nicole Kidman! Kamala Harris! It’s the WOW Report for Radio Andy!
Stacey Abrams! Kimye! Chaos at the Capitol! Georgia Goes Blue! It’s the WOW Report for Radio Andy!
The Top Ten Things You May Have Forgotten Happened in 2020!
“Santa Fa La La” from “The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special” is a Sexy Xmas R&B Grind. Watch

© 2019 World of Wonder Productions, Inc | World of Wonder is a trademark of World of Wonder Productions, Inc | Privacy

Copyright © 2021 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in