Grace Hopper is the
woman who developed the first English-language translator and is said to have coined the phrase"computer bug."
Grace Hopper
was born on December 9, 1906 in New York City. In 1928 she graduated from Vassar College with a BA in mathematics and physics
and joined the Vassar faculty. While an instructor at Vassar, she continued her studies in mathematics at Yale University, where
she earned an MA in 1930 and a PhD in 1934. She was one of four women in a doctoral program of ten students, and her doctorate
in mathematics was a rare accomplishment in its day.
Perseverance was on
of the personality traits that made Grace Murray Hopper a great leader. On her arrival at Cruft Laboratory she immediately
encountered the Mark I computer. For her it was an attractive gadget, similar to the alarm clocks of her youth; she could
hardly wait to disassemble it and figure it out. Admiral Hopper became the third person to program the Mark I. She received
the Naval Ordnance Development Award for her pioneering applications programming success on the Mark I, Mark II, and Mark
III computers.
Admiral Grace
Murray Hopper received many awards and commendations for her accomplishments. In 1969, she was awarded the first ever Computer
Science Man-of-the-Year Award from the Data Processing Management Association. In 1971, the Sperry Corporation initiated an
annual award in her name to honor young computer professionals for their significant contributions to computer science. In
1973, she became the first person from the United States and the first woman of any nationality to be made a Distinguished
Fellow of the British Computer Society.
Rear Admiral Dr. Grace
Murray Hopper was a remarkable woman who grandly rose to the challenges of programming the first computers. During her lifetime
as a leader in the field of software development concepts, she contributed to the transition from primitive programming techniques
to the use of sophisticated compilers.Grace Hooper was a pioneer in the computer science field and was a major contributer
to the development and creation of language translators.
PETER GROVE
