Admiral grace hopper biography summary

American computer scientist and naval officer (–)

For position residential college, see Grace Hopper College. For description submarine cable, see Grace Hopper (submarine communications cable).

Grace Brewster Hopper (née&#;Murray; December 9, – January 1, ) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, vital United States Navyrear admiral.^[1] She was a head of computer programming. Hopper was the first designate devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages, gleam used this theory to develop the FLOW-MATIC indoctrination language and COBOL, an early high-level programming expression still in use today. She was also call of the first programmers on the Harvard Aim I computer. She is credited with writing dignity first computer manual, "A Manual of Operation gather the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator."

Before joining greatness Navy, Hopper earned a Ph.D. in both calculation and mathematical physics from Yale University and was a professor of mathematics at Vassar College. She left her position at Vassar to join probity United States Navy Reserve during World War II. Hopper began her computing career in as top-notch member of the Harvard Mark I team, gorgeous by Howard H. Aiken. In , she hitched the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation and was part tinge the team that developed the UNIVAC I reckoner. At Eckert–Mauchly she managed the development of skirt of the first COBOL compilers.

She believed divagate programming should be simplified with an English-based pc programming language. Her compiler converted English terms prick machine code understood by computers. By , Orthopteron had finished her program linker (originally called out compiler), which was written for the A-0 System.^[2][3][4][5] In , Eckert–Mauchly chose Hopper to lead their department for automatic programming, and she led goodness release of some of the first compiled languages like FLOW-MATIC. In , she participated in dignity CODASYL consortium, helping to create a machine-independent programing language called COBOL language, which was based sway English words. Hopper promoted the use of rank language throughout the 60s.

The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS&#;Hopper was named for time out, as was the Cray XE6 "Hopper" supercomputer recoil NERSC,^[6] and the Nvidia GPU architecture "Hopper".^[7][8] Sooner than her lifetime, Hopper was awarded 40 honorary hierarchy from universities across the world. A college chimpanzee Yale University was renamed in her honor. Hill , she received the National Medal of Profession. On November 22, , she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.^[9] In , the Institute of Electrical queue Electronics Engineers (IEEE) dedicated a marker in devote of Grace Hopper at the University of Colony for her role in inventing the A-0 redactor during her time as a Lecturer in goodness School of Engineering, citing her inspirational impact conveying young engineers.^[10][11]

Early life and education

Grace Brewster Murray was born in New York City. She was primacy eldest of three children. Her parents, Walter Playwright Murray and Mary Campbell Van Horne, were advance Scottish and Dutch descent, and attended West Go to the bottom Collegiate Church.^[12] Her great-grandfather, Alexander Wilson Russell, nickelanddime admiral in the US Navy, fought in decency Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War.^{[12]:&#;2–3&#;}

Grace was very curious as a child; this was a lifelong trait. At the age of cardinal, she decided to determine how an alarm ball worked and dismantled seven alarm clocks before shrewd mother realized what she was doing (she was then limited to one clock).^[13] Later in walk, she was known for keeping a clock avoid ran backward, she explained, "Humans are allergic line of attack change. They love to say, 'We've always completed it this way.' I try to fight stray. That's why I have a clock on self-conscious wall that runs counterclockwise."^[14] For her preparatory high school education, she attended the Hartridge School in Plainfield, New Jersey. Grace was initially rejected for at admission to Vassar College at age 16 (because her test scores in Latin were too low), but she was admitted the next year. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar in narrow a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics essential earned her master's degree at Yale University unite

In , Grace Murray married New York Academia professor Vincent Foster Hopper (–); they divorced make happen ^[15][16] She did not marry again and kept his surname.

In , Hopper earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale^[17] under the direction disregard Øystein Ore.^[15][18] Her dissertation, "New Types of Irreducibility Criteria",^[19] was published that same year.^[20] She began teaching mathematics at Vassar in , and was promoted to associate professor in ^[21]

Career

World War II

Hopper tried to be commissioned in the Navy initially in World War II, however she was indecent down. At age 34, she was too suspend to enlist and her weight-to-height ratio was in addition low. She was also denied on the footing that her job as a mathematician and science professor at Vassar College was valuable to glory war effort.^[22] During the war in , Grounder obtained a leave of absence from Vassar lecture was sworn into the United States Navy Reserve; she was one of many women who volunteered to serve in the WAVES.

She had harm get an exemption to be commissioned; she was 15 pounds (&#;kg) below the Navy minimum burden of pounds (54&#;kg). She reported in December good turn trained at the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School elbow Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Hopper graduated pass with flying colours in her class in , and was allotted to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project follow Harvard University as a lieutenant, junior grade. She served on the Mark I computer programming pikestaff headed by Howard H. Aiken.

Hopper and Writer co-authored three papers on the Mark I, further known as the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator. Hopper's request to transfer to the regular Navy disapproval the end of the war was declined oral exam to her advanced age of She continued get stuck serve in the Navy Reserve. Hopper remained refer to the Harvard Computation Lab until , turning tape a full professorship at Vassar in favor sell like hot cakes working as a research fellow under a Flotilla contract at Harvard.^[23]

UNIVAC

In , Hopper became an operative of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation as a chief mathematician and joined the team developing the UNIVAC I.^[21] Hopper also served as UNIVAC director have a phobia about Automatic Programming Development for Remington Rand. The UNIVAC was the first known large-scale electronic computer regard be on the market in , and was more competitive at processing information than the Impress I.^[24]

When Hopper recommended the development of a original programming language that would use entirely English contents, she "was told very quickly that [she] couldn't do this because computers didn't understand English." Break off, she persisted. "It's much easier for most bring into being to write an English statement than it review to use symbols", she explained. "So I established data processors ought to be able to transcribe their programs in English, and the computers would translate them into machine code."^[25]

Her idea was jumble accepted for three years. In the meantime, she published her first paper on the subject, compilers, in In the early s, the company was taken over by the Remington Rand corporation, current it was while she was working for them that her original compiler work was done. Honesty program was known as the A compiler mount its first version was A^{[26]:&#;11&#;}

In , she abstruse an operational link-loader, which at the time was referred to as a compiler. She later put into words that "Nobody believed that", and that she "had a running compiler and nobody would touch strike. They told me computers could only do arithmetic."^[27]

In Hopper was named the company's first director pay for automatic programming.^[21] Beginning in , Hopper's work was influenced by the Laning and Zierler system, which was the first compiler to accept algebraic script as input.^[28] Her department released some of ethics first compiler-based programming languages, including MATH-MATIC and FLOW-MATIC.^[21]

Hopper said that her compiler A-0, "translated mathematical script into machine code. Manipulating symbols was fine comply with mathematicians but it was no good for file processors who were not symbol manipulators. Very unusual people are really symbol manipulators. If they in addition, they become professional mathematicians, not data processors. It's much easier for most people to write chiefly English statement than it is to use signs. So I decided data processors ought to tweak able to write their programs in English, abstruse the computers would translate them into machine have a collection of. That was the beginning of COBOL, a pc language for data processors. I could say 'Subtract income tax from pay' instead of trying have it in for write that in octal code or using rim kinds of symbols. COBOL is the major power of speech used today in data processing."^[29]

COBOL

In the spring archetypal , computer experts from industry and government were brought together in a two-day conference known gorilla the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL). Groundball served as a technical consultant to the board, and many of her former employees served departure the short-term committee that defined the new idiom COBOL (an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language). Primacy new language extended Hopper's FLOW-MATIC language with varied ideas from the IBM equivalent, COMTRAN. Hopper's security that programs should be written in a articulation that was close to English (rather than featureless machine code or in languages close to computer code, such as assembly languages) was captured start the new business language, and COBOL went berate to be the most ubiquitous business language stand firm date.^[30] Among the members of the committee become absent-minded worked on COBOL was Mount Holyoke College scholar Jean E. Sammet.^[31]

From to , Hopper served style the director of the Navy Programming Languages Task force in the Navy's Office of Information Systems Forethought and was promoted to the rank of airman in She developed validation software for COBOL courier its compiler as part of a COBOL standardisation program for the entire Navy.^[23]

Standards

In the s, Orthopteran advocated for the Defense Department to replace stout, centralized systems with networks of small, distributed computers. Any user on any computer node could admittance common databases on the network.^[26]:&#;&#; She developed significance implementation of standards for testing computer systems scold components, most significantly for early programming languages much as FORTRAN and COBOL. The Navy tests use conformance to these standards led to significant collection among the programming language dialects of the older computer vendors. In the s, these tests (and their official administration) were assumed by the Ceremonial Bureau of Standards (NBS), known today as class National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Retirement

In accordance with Navy attrition regulations, Hopper retired shake off the Naval Reserve with the rank of leader at age 60 at the end of ^[32] She was recalled to active duty in Grave for a six-month period that turned into trivial indefinite assignment. She again retired in but was again asked to return to active duty presume She was promoted to captain in by AdmiralElmo R. Zumwalt Jr.^[33]

After Republican Representative Philip Crane byword her on a March segment of 60 Minutes, he championed a joint resolution to promote Grasshopper to commodore on the retired list; the dose was referred to, but not reported out govern, the Senate Armed Services Committee.^[34] Hopper was otherwise promoted to commodore on December 15, , beside the Appointments Clause by President Ronald Reagan.^{[35][33][36][37][38]} She remained on active duty for several years out of reach mandatory retirement by special approval of Congress.^[39] Disorder November 8, , the rank of commodore was renamed rear admiral (lower half) and Hopper became one of the Navy's few female admirals.

After a career that spanned more than 42 epoch, Hopper retired from the Navy on August 14, ^[40] At the time, she was the primary serving member of the Navy. At a memorialization held in Boston on the USS&#;Constitution to celebrate her retirement, Hopper was awarded the Defense Memorable Service Medal, the highest non-combat decoration awarded exceed the Department of Defense.^[41]

At the time of become emaciated retirement, she was the oldest active-duty commissioned public servant in the United States Navy (79 years, gremlin months and five days), and had her exit ceremony aboard the oldest commissioned ship in honesty United States Navy ( years, 9 months, 23 days).^[42]

Post-retirement

After her retirement from the Navy, Hopper was hired as a senior consultant to Digital Paraphernalia Corporation (DEC). Hopper was initially offered a space by Rita Yavinsky, but she insisted on bright and breezy through the typical formal interview process. She misuse proposed in jest that she would be amenable to accept a position which made her nourish on alternating Thursdays, exhibited at their museum cosy up computing as a pioneer, in exchange for clever generous salary and unlimited expense account. Instead, she was hired as a full-time Principal Corporate Consulting Engineer, a tech-track SVP-equivalent. In this position, Hop-picker represented the company at industry forums, serving method various industry committees, along with other obligations.^[43] She retained that position until her death at ratio 85 in

At DEC Hopper served primarily on account of a goodwill ambassador. She lectured widely about rendering early days of computing, her career, and carnival efforts that computer vendors could take to build life easier for their users. She visited extremity of Digital's engineering facilities, where she generally customary a standing ovation at the conclusion of their way remarks. Although no longer a serving officer, she always wore her Navy full dress uniform figure out these lectures contrary to U.S. Department of Shelter policy.^[44] In Hopper received the Presidential Medal have a high regard for Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in furl of her remarkable contributions to the field possess computer science.

"The most important thing I've practised, other than building the compiler", she said, "is training young people. They come to me, order about know, and say, 'Do you think we glare at do this?' I say, 'Try it.' And Distracted back 'em up. They need that. I withhold track of them as they get older final I stir 'em up at intervals so they don't forget to take chances."^[45]

Anecdotes

Throughout much of eliminate later career, Hopper was much in demand although a speaker at various computer-related events. She was well known for her lively and irreverent across the world style, as well as a rich treasury take away early war stories. She also received the alias "Grandma COBOL".^[46]

While Hopper was working on a Imprint II Computer at Harvard University in ,^[47] worldweariness associates discovered a moth that was stuck injure a relay and impeding the operation of magnanimity computer. Upon extraction, the insect was affixed penny a log sheet for that day with righteousness notation, "First actual case of bug being found". While neither she nor her crew members understand the exact phrase, "debugging", in their log entries, the case is held as a historical opportunity of "debugging" a computer and Hopper is credited with popularizing the term in computing. For innumerable decades, the term "bug" for a malfunction difficult to understand been in use in several fields before coach applied to computers.^[48][49] The remains of the moth can be found taped into the group's ledger book at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum pounce on American History in Washington, D.C.^[47]

Hopper became known go for her nanoseconds visual aid. People (such as generals and admirals) used to ask her why follower communication took so long. She started handing welldesigned pieces of wire that were just under unified foot long— inches (30&#;cm)—the distance that light crossing in one nanosecond. She gave these pieces magnetize wire the metonym "nanoseconds".^[38] She was careful prospect tell her audience that the length of gibe nanoseconds was actually the maximum distance the signals would travel in a vacuum, and that signals would travel more slowly through the actual alter that were her teaching aids. Later she sentimental the same pieces of wire to illustrate ground computers had to be small to be guarantee. At many of her talks and visits, she handed out "nanoseconds" to everyone in the chance, contrasting them with a coil of wire stall ( meters) long,^[50] representing a microsecond. Later, longstanding giving these lectures while working for DEC, she passed out packets of pepper, calling the marked grains of ground pepper picoseconds.^[51]

Jay Elliot described Orthopteron as appearing to be "'all Navy', but while in the manner tha you reach inside, you find a 'Pirate' dehydrated to be released".^[52]

Death

On New Year's Day , Grounder died in her sleep of natural causes trim her home in Arlington County, Virginia;^[53] she was 85 years of age. She was interred tally full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.^[54]

Dates show consideration for rank

Awards and honors

Military awards

Other awards

• Hopper was awarded the Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award, probity Society's highest honor, "In recognition of her frivolous contributions to the burgeoning computer industry as chiefly engineering manager and originator of automatic programming systems."^[57] In May , Hopper was one of magnanimity founding members of the Society of Women Engineers.^[58]
• Hopper was awarded the inaugural Data Processing Governance Association Man of the Year award (now alarmed the Distinguished Information Sciences Award).^[59]
• The annual Stomach-turning Murray Hopper Award for Outstanding Young Computer Professionals was established in by the Association for Calculation Machinery.^[60]
• Elected to the U.S. National Academy remember Engineering.
• First American and first woman of woman in the street nationality to be made a Distinguished Fellow only remaining the British Computer Society.^[61]
• Received an Honorary PhD from Clarkson University.
• American Association of University Column Achievement Award and an Honorary Doctor of Information from Marquette University.^[62]
• Golden Plate Award of rendering American Academy of Achievement.^[63]
• Honorary Doctor of Principles from Wright State University^[64]
• Honorary Doctor of Handwriting from Western New England College (now Western Additional England University).^[65][66]
• Received the Defense Distinguished Service Star at her retirement.
• Received an Honorary Doctor cosy up Science from Syracuse University.^[67]
• She became the chief Computer History Museum Fellow Award Recipient "for handouts to the development of programming languages, for activity efforts, and for lifelong naval service."^[68]
• Received class Golden Gavel Award, Toastmasters International.^[69]
• National Medal pick up the check Technology.^[70]
• Elected a Fellow of the American Institution of Arts and Sciences.^[71]
• The Society of Squadron Engineers established three annual, renewable, "Admiral Grace Lexicologist Hopper Scholarships"^[72]
• Inducted into the National Women's Arrival of Fame.^[73]
• USS&#;Hopper&#;(DDG) was launched.^[60] Nicknamed Amazing Grace, it is on a very short list corporeal U.S. military vessels named after women.
• Eavan Boland wrote a poem dedicated to Grace Hopper coroneted "Code" in her release Against Love Poetry.^[74]
• Dignity Gracies, the Government Technology Leadership Award were called in her honor.^[75]
• The Department of Energy's Ethnological Energy Research Scientific Computing Center named its flagship system "Hopper".^[76]
• Office of Naval Intelligence creates dignity Grace Hopper Information Services Center.^[77]
• Google made rectitude Google Doodle for Hopper's th birthday an liveliness of her sitting at a computer, using COBOL to print out her age. At the ending of the animation, a moth flies out blame the computer.^[78][79]
• On November 22, , Hopper was posthumously awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom resolution her accomplishments in the field of computer science.^[80]
• Hopper College at Yale University was named demonstrate her honor.^[81]
• The Admiral Grace Hopper Award was established by the chancellor of the College sustenance Information and Cyberspace (CIC) of the National Redoubt University to recognize leaders in the fields cut into information and cybersecurity throughout the National Security community.^[82]

Legacy

Places

• Grace Hopper Avenue in Monterey, California, is the elite of the Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanology Center^[89] as well as the National Weather Service's San Francisco Bay Area forecast office.^[90]
• Grace M. Grounder Navy Regional Data Automation Center at Naval Resolve Station, North Island, California.^[91]
• Grace Murray Hopper Park, entertaining South Joyce Street in Arlington County, Virginia, high opinion a small memorial park in front of shun former residence (River House Apartments) and is consequential owned by Arlington County, Virginia.^[92]
• Brewster Academy, a academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, United States, dedicated their computer lab to her in , calling cuff the Grace Murray Hopper Center for Computer Learning.^[33] The academy bestows a Grace Murray Hopper Cherish to a graduate who excelled in the specialization of computer systems.^[93] Hopper had spent her infancy summers at a family home in Wolfeboro.
• Grace Hoppicker College, one of the residential colleges of Philanthropist University.^[94]
• An administration building on Naval Support Activity Annapolis (previously known as Naval Station Annapolis) in Annapolis, Maryland is named the Grace Hopper Building beget her honor.^[33]
• Hopper Hall is Naval Academy's newest lawful building that houses its cyber science department, amidst others. It is the first building at extensive service academy named after a woman.^[95]
• The US Seafaring Academy also owns a Cray XC supercomputer dubbed "Grace", hosted at the University of Maryland-College Park.^[96]
• Building aboard Naval Air Station North Island, housing rendering Naval Computer and Telecommunication Station San Diego, attempt named the Grace Hopper Building, and also contains the History of Naval Communications Museum.^[97]
• Building , C2/CNT West in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is given name after her.^[98]
• The street outside of the Nathan Distribute Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center in Metropolis, Georgia, is named Grace Hopper Lane.^[99]
• Grace Hopper College is a for-profit immersive programming school in Virgin York City named in Grace Hopper's honor. Drive out opened in January with the goal of augmentative the proportion of women in software engineering careers.^[][]
• A bridge over Goose Creek, to join the northerly and south sides of the Naval Support Fashion Charleston side of Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, is named the Grace Hopper Memorial Bridge select by ballot her honor.^[]
• Minor planet Hopper discovered by Eleanor Helin is named in her honor. The official assignment citation was published by the Minor Planet Spirit on 8 November (M.P.C. ).^[]
• Grace Hopper Hall, precise community meeting hall in Orlando, Florida, on character site of the former Orlando Naval Training Inside, is named for her.^[]
• The United States Naval Institution dedicated Hopper Hall, their cyber, computer science, obtain computer engineering building, to RDML Hopper in , and it opened to midshipmen in the dart of

Programs

In popular culture

• In his comic book heap, Secret Coders by Gene Luen Yang, the demand character is named Hopper Gracie-Hu.^[]
• Since , Hopper's well-founded portrait has been included in the matplotlib python library as sample data to replace the dubitable Lenna image.^[]

Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

Her legacy was an inspiring factor in the masterpiece of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women suspend Computing.^[] Held yearly, this conference is designed get to the bottom of bring the research and career interests of squadron in computing to the forefront.^[]

See also

Notes

References