
Grace Hopper
rear admiral | computer scientist
Dr. Grace Murray Hopper was a trailblazing technologist. Nicknamed the First Lady of Software, she invented compiled programming languages while working on the very earliest electronic computers.
Grace patriotically left her university post as a popular math professor at Vassar to enlist in the US Navy during WWII. She was almost denied entry ~ due to her "advanced" age {37} and physical condition {16 pounds underweight} ~ but went on to become one of the military's most celebrated researchers. After 43 years of service, she retired at the age of 80 as a Rear Admiral and the Navy's oldest serving officer. Today, "Amazing Grace" continues to be a patron saint of computing, inspiring women & girls to take hold in tech + calling on all of us to "move to the future."
computing | the original computer programmer
debugging | coined this technical terms when she had to remove an actual moth to fix an early electronic computer glitch
teaching | engaging + easy-to-understand instruction as a professor at Vassar, ambassador for the Navy and all-around mentor to the next generation of computer scientists
nanoseconds | never left home without her signature visual aid, a bundle of wires cut to 11.8 inches ~ the maximum distance electricity can travel in a billionth of a second
accolades | including 37 honorary doctorates, 7 military medals, the Data Processing Management Association's 1st ever "Man of the Year" award, National Medal of Technology and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1943 | enlisted in the US Navy following the attack on Pearl Harbor and was literally ordered to write the book {a user manual} on the first electronic computer, Mark I at Harvard
1952 | invented the first compiled computer programming language that would develop into COBOL, a code used by companies and governments for business, finance and administrative systems
1986 | forced to retire from the Navy {for the 3rd + last time} just 3 years after being promoted to Commodore and 1 year after being named a Rear Admiral, but went out in style with a party on "Old Ironsides," The USS Constitution
from | to
inquisitive kid who dismantled 7 clocks to figure out how alarms worked | Vassar math professor | computer programming pioneer and one of the highest ranking + most highly decorated women in US Military history
born on
December 9, 1906
born in
New York, New York
birth name
Grace Brewster Murray
nickname | also known as
Amazing Grace
Rear Admiral
First Lady of Software
Great Lady or Mother of COBOL
citizen of
The United States of America
daughter of
Mary Campbell Van Horne Murray
~ math lover ~
Walter Fletcher Murray
~ insurance broker and double amputee ~
sister of
2 younger siblings | Mary Murray Westcote + Dr. Roger Franklin Murray, II
educated at
Vassar College
~ BA | 1928 ~
Yale University
~ MA + PhD | 1930 + 1934 ~
loved studying
mathematics + physics
divorced from
Vincent Foster Hopper
~ New York University literature professor ~
~ married 1930 - 1945 ~
advocate for
changing one's mind + moving forward
microprocessors
paperless records
parallel, dispersed subsystems of computers instead of monolithic ones
in her spare time
playing piano
reading
cross-stitching
died on
January 1, 1992
~ in Arlington, Virginia and buried in the National Cemetery there ~
image credits
US Navy | Naval Historical Center | public domain
collapse bio bits"A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."
aphorism commonly misattributed to Grace | january 1928
"I keep a clock which operates entirely counterclockwise. And on the first day people meet it, they can't tell time. On the second day, they discover what used to be 5 of is now 5 after, and they can tell time again. Normally, it's not till the third day that they suddenly realize: there was never any reason why clocks had to run clockwise."
widely delivered lecture as the Head of the Training and Technology Directorate at the Naval Data Automation Command | ca. 1980
"Probably the most dangerous phrase that anyone could use in the world today is that dreadful one: 'But we've always done it that way.'"
widely delivered lecture as the Head of the Training and Technology Directorate at the Naval Data Automation Command | ca. 1980
"Even in a world of accelerating change, it is still difficult to convince people that the new ways of doing things can be better and cheaper."
David and Goliath | 1983
"No innovation or standard should be rejected as too costly without careful evaluation of the 'cost of not doing it.'"
David and Goliath | 1983
"It is insufficient to plan on the past alone; the plan must be examined in the light of 'all possible future developments.'"
David and Goliath | 1983
"The application of systems techniques has been successful in scientific and technical applications . . . It meets difficulty when it is applied in social and political situations largely because people are not 'well-behaved' mathematical functions, but can only be represented by statistical approximations, and all of the extremes can and do occur."
David and Goliath | 1983
"I didn't know what a billion was. I don't think most of those men downtown know what a billion is, either. And if you don't know what a billion is, how on earth do you know what a billionth is?"
Grace Hopper explains Nanoseconds | ca. 1985
"Kids will be using computers instead of memorizing their multiplication tables. This will give them more time to solve word problems, which is much more useful. That's the real problem. Not the arithmetic but the interpretation."
Only the Limits of Our Imagination | july 1986
"It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission."
Only the Limits of Our Imagination | july 1986
"You manage things; you lead people."
{3rd + last} US Navy Retirement Ceremony on the USS Constitution | september 1986
"They should have a course in civilian dressing. Here I've been wearing nice round-toed, flat-heeled shoes, and all of the sudden they want to put me on spike heels, and I fall off . . . And then I tried to get some pantyhose. And the first pair bagged at the calf and the second pair cut me in half and the third pair did both—how do you get a pair of pantyhose that fit?"
Grace Hopper on The David Letterman Show | october 1986
"There's something you learn in your first boot-camp, or training camp: If they put you down somewhere with nothing to do, go to sleep—you don't know when you'll get any more."
Grace Hopper on The David Letterman Show | october 1986
"I had a running compiler and nobody would touch it. They told me computers could only do arithmetic."
Future of Computers, Hardware, Software, and People | february 1987
"A business' accounts receivable file is much more important than its accounts payable file."
Future of Computers, Hardware, Software, and People | february 1987
"We're flooding people with information. We need to feed it through a processor. A human must turn information into intelligence or knowledge. We've tended to forget that no computer will ever ask a new question."
Future of Computers, Hardware, Software, and People | february 1987
curated with care by Alicia Williamson {august 2014}
Grace working on UNIVAC
In this 1952 snapshot, Grace makes an adjustment on UNIVAC 1, the not-so-portable first computer. In her hand, she holds the COBOL manual ~ a guide to one of her most famous inventions, the very first compiler programming language.
Karen
CC BY
Grace Hopper being promoted to Commodore
The Secretary of the Navy swears Grace in while President Ronald Reagan waits in the wings to congratulate her on her promotion. Grace would return to the Oval Office a few years later to be dubbed a Rear Admiral at a time when most officers were well into retirement.
Pete Souza | US Department of Defense
Public domain
The Grace Hopper Navy Data Center
With the help of an enthusiastic crew of fellow military leaders, Grace breaks ground on a new Navy Regional Data Automation Center (NARDAC) named after the programming pioneer. She also had a Navy ship ~ the USS Hopper ~ named after her!
US Department of Defense
Public domain
Morgan Hill AAUW Women's History Program 2010
Hear more about what made this early programmer so remarkable in this short, engaging talk, "Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age" by a biographer who benefited from Grace's mentorship, Dr. Kurt Beyer.
Susan Patereau
Grace Hopper Animated Computer Google Doodle
Enjoy this captioned capture of a Google Doodle designed to honor "Amazing Grace" on what would be her 107th birthday.
TJC