1945 1st "bug" in a computer program discovered by Grace Hopper, a moth was removed with tweezers from a relay & taped into the log...
Grace Hopper was an Admiral and Computer Scientist which is a novel connection - especially for 1945...
She was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer which was used in the war effort and the Manhattan project from 1944.
Hopper went on to invent the first compiler for a universal computer programming language.
She is also credited with coining the phrase 'debugging' after removing a moth with tweezers from a relay and taping it into the log.
Owing to both her accomplishments and naval rank, she was often referred to as "Amazing Grace". The USS Hopper, a Burke-class guided-missile destroyer was named for her, as was the Cray XE6 "Hopper" supercomputer.
She popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today.
Hopper had tried to enlist in the Navy during World War II. She had to join the Navy Reserves because she was too old to enlist at the age of 34. Hopper started her computing career working in the Harvard Mark I team led by Howard H. Aiken. In 1949, she joined the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation, joining the team that developed the UNIVAC I in 1944. It was at Eckert–Mauchly that she began developing the compiler. She believed that computer code could be written in English using a programming language based on English words. The compiler would convert that code into machine code understood by computers. By 1952, Hopper finished her compiler, which was written for the A-0 System programming language.
In 1954, Eckert–Mauchly chose Hopper to lead their department for automatic programming, and she led the release of some of the first compiled languages like FLOW-MATIC. In 1959, she participated in the CODASYLconsortium, which consulted Hopper to guide them in creating a machine-independent programming language. This led to the COBOL language, inspired by her idea of a language being based on English. In 1966, she retired from the Naval Reserve, but in 1967, the Navy recalled her into active duty. She retired from the Navy in 1986 and found work as a consultant for the Digital Equipment Corporation, sharing her computing experiences.
Owing to her accomplishments and her naval rank, she was sometimes referred to as "Amazing Grace". The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper was named for her, as was the Cray XE6"Hopper" supercomputer at NERSC. During her lifetime, Hopper was awarded 40 honorary degrees from universities across the world. In 1991, she received the National Medal of Technology. On November 22, 2016, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
Hopper had tried to enlist in the Navy during World War II. She had to join the Navy Reserves because she was too old to enlist at the age of 34. Hopper started her computing career working in the Harvard Mark I team led by Howard H. Aiken. In 1949, she joined the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation, joining the team that developed the UNIVAC I in 1944. It was at Eckert–Mauchly that she began developing the compiler. She believed that computer code could be written in English using a programming language based on English words. The compiler would convert that code into machine code understood by computers. By 1952, Hopper finished her compiler, which was written for the A-0 System programming language.
In 1954, Eckert–Mauchly chose Hopper to lead their department for automatic programming, and she led the release of some of the first compiled languages like FLOW-MATIC. In 1959, she participated in the CODASYLconsortium, which consulted Hopper to guide them in creating a machine-independent programming language. This led to the COBOL language, inspired by her idea of a language being based on English. In 1966, she retired from the Naval Reserve, but in 1967, the Navy recalled her into active duty. She retired from the Navy in 1986 and found work as a consultant for the Digital Equipment Corporation, sharing her computing experiences.
Owing to her accomplishments and her naval rank, she was sometimes referred to as "Amazing Grace". The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper was named for her, as was the Cray XE6"Hopper" supercomputer at NERSC. During her lifetime, Hopper was awarded 40 honorary degrees from universities across the world. In 1991, she received the National Medal of Technology. On November 22, 2016, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
Hopper had tried to enlist in the Navy early in the war. She was at age 34, too old to enlist, and her weight to height ratio was too low. She was also denied on the basis that her job as a mathematician and mathematics professor at Vassar College was valuable to the war effort.
During World War II in 1943, Hopper obtained a leave of absence from Vassar and was sworn into the United States Navy Reserve, one of many women to volunteer to serve in the WAVES. She had to get an exemption to enlist; she was 15 pounds (6.8 kg) below the Navy minimum weight of 120 pounds (54 kg).
She reported in December and trained at the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Hopper graduated first in her class in 1944, and was assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard University as a lieutenant, junior grade.
She served on the Mark I computer programming staff headed by Howard H. Aiken. Hopper and Aiken co-authored three papers on the Mark I, also known as the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator. Hopper's request to transfer to the regular Navy at the end of the war was declined due to her advanced age of 38. She continued to serve in the Navy Reserve. Hopper remained at the Harvard Computation Lab until 1949, turning down a full professorship at Vassar in favor of working as a research fellow under a Navy contract at Harvard.
In accordance with Navy attrition regulations, Hopper retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of commander at age 60 at the end of 1966. She was recalled to active duty in August 1967 for a six-month period that turned into an indefinite assignment. She again retired in 1971, but was again asked to return to active duty in 1972. She was promoted to captain in 1973.
After Republican Representative Philip Crane saw her on a March 1983 segment of 60 Minutes, he championed H.J.Res. 341, a joint resolution originating in the House of Representatives, which led to her promotion to commodore by special Presidential appointment. She remained on active duty for several years beyond mandatory retirement by special approval of Congress. Effective November 8, 1985, the rank of commodore was renamed rear admiral (lower half) and Hopper became one of the Navy's few female admirals.
Admiral Hopper retired (involuntarily) from the Navy on August 14, 1986 after a career over 42 years. At a celebration held in Boston on the USS Constitution to commemorate her retirement, Hopper was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the highest non-combat decoration awarded by the Department of Defense.
At the time of her retirement, she was the oldest active-duty commissioned officer in the United States Navy (79 years, eight months and five days), and aboard the oldest commissioned ship in the United States Navy (188 years, nine months and 23 days).
Hopper died in her sleep of natural causes on New Year's Day 1992 at her home in Arlington, Virginia; she was 85 years of age. She was interred with full military honors
So there
Cheers
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