Grace Hopper

Hello! My name is Grace Hopper, and my story begins with a bit of mischief and a lot of curiosity. I was born on December 9th, 1906, in New York City. Even as a little girl, I wasn't just interested in what things did; I wanted to know how they did it. When I was seven, I decided to figure out how our alarm clock worked. So, I took it apart. To make sure I understood, I took apart seven more before my mother finally noticed! That curiosity never left me. It pushed me to study mathematics and physics at Vassar College, where I graduated in 1928. I loved learning so much that I went on to Yale University, and in 1934, I earned my Ph.D. in mathematics. Back then, it was very rare for a woman to achieve that, but I never let expectations stop me from chasing a challenge.

After finishing my studies, I became a professor at Vassar. But in the early 1940s, the world was changed by World War II. I knew I had to do my part to help my country. In 1943, I made the big decision to leave teaching and join the U.S. Navy Reserve. Because of my math skills, the Navy sent me to Harvard University to work on a top-secret project. It was a giant, room-sized machine called the Mark I computer. It was one of the very first computers, filled with whirring relays and clicking switches, and my job was to program it to calculate things for the war effort. It was complicated work, but I loved the challenge of telling this enormous 'electric brain' what to do.

Working with those early computers was always an adventure. On a warm day, September 9th, 1947, my team and I were working on the Mark II computer when it suddenly stopped. We checked everything, and after a long search, we found the problem. A real moth had gotten trapped in one of the machine's relays, causing a short circuit! We carefully removed it and taped it into our logbook. Next to it, one of my colleagues wrote, 'First actual case of bug being found.' While people had used the word 'bug' before to describe a problem, our story made it famous. Ever since, when a computer program has a mistake, we call it a 'bug,' and the process of fixing it is called 'debugging'!

After the war, I continued to work at the forefront of computing. I believed that computers could do so much more, but they were too hard for most people to use. You had to program them using complex mathematical code. I had a revolutionary idea: what if we could talk to computers using words, not just numbers? In 1952, I created the first 'compiler,' a program that translated English-like instructions into the machine code a computer could understand. This was a huge breakthrough! My work laid the foundation for modern programming languages. It led directly to the development of COBOL in 1959, a language designed for business that made computers accessible to a whole new world of people. I was so proud of it that I earned the nickname 'Grandma COBOL.'

My career in the Navy was long and full of surprises. I officially retired in 1966, but less than a year later, the Navy called me back to active duty to help standardize their computer languages. I ended up staying for another 19 years! I loved serving and sharing my knowledge with a new generation of sailors and programmers. In 1985, I was honored with a promotion to Rear Admiral by a special appointment from the President. When I finally retired for good on August 14th, 1986, I was the oldest active-duty officer in the entire U.S. Navy. I always told young people that the most dangerous phrase in the language is, 'We've always done it this way.' I encouraged them to take risks and try new things.

I lived a full and adventurous life for 85 years, filled with clocks, computers, and challenges. My work helped transform computers from giant, complicated machines for scientists into the powerful and user-friendly tools that are part of our everyday lives. Today, I am remembered not just for my inventions or my naval career, but for my belief that we should always be curious and brave. So, the next time you use a computer or an app, I hope you'll remember the woman who taught computers how to understand our language.