Grace Hopper was a woman who worked in computers in the service of the United States Navy.
LifeGrace Brewster Murray was born on December 9, 1906 in New York City. In 1928 she graduated from Vassar College with a BA in mathmatics and physics and joined the Vassar faculty. While an instructor at Vassar, she continued her studies in mathematics at Yale University, where she earned a MA in 1930and 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.
| Programming the first computers 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.
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Early Compilers and ValidationPursuing her belief that computer programs could be written in English, Admiral hopper moved forward with the development for Univac of the B-O compiler, later known as FLOW-MATIC. It was designed to translate a language that could be used for typical business tasks like automatic billing and payroll calculation. |
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Admiral Grace Murray Hopper received many awards and commendations for her accomplishments.
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Place of Birth and Death Born in New York City, New York Died in Arlington, Virginia |
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Admiral Grace Murray Hopper retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of Commander at the end of 1966. |
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