Grace was born and raised in New York City in the year 1906. She majored in mathematics and physics at Vassar College. In 1928, Grace graduated from Vassar College and furthered her mathematics studies at the University of Yale. This year she also got married to Vincent Hopper hence becoming Grace Hopper. She interestingly kept the husbands’ names even after their divorce in the year 1945. Grace continued teaching at Vassar while she was studying for her masters at Yale. Grace Hopper was the first among few women to get a Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics.
Grace became an associate professor at Vassar College, where she continued her teaching until 1943. During World War Two, she was pressured to join the Naval Reserve in U.S. She, however, decided to venture into the Navy, a field her grandfather had been working in (Beyer, 3). After she joined the Navy, she was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1944. She was assigned at the Harvard University’s Bureau of Ordinance Computation project based on her mathematical know-how. However, after the war, Grace continued serving as a reserve officer at the Navy. While spending her time at the Navy, she learned how to program computers, e.g., the Mark I.
Grace Hopper’s desire to continue working with computers prompted her to move into the private industry where she worked with the Eckert-Mauchly corporation. Later she also worked at Remington Rand overseeing the UNIVAC computer programming (Strawn et al., 62). Together with her Colleges at Remington Rand created the first compiler for computer languages, which is the most common language used around the world. Although she retired from the Navy when she was about sixty, she was recalled to handle communication difficulties between the different invented computer languages actively. She remained in the Navy for several years and then retired and was considered the oldest serving officer.
Grace Hopper is known for her skills and intervention in developing a compiler precursor for the widely used COBOL computer language. Additionally, she was admired in the united states Navy and served accordingly in the positions accorded. Grace Hopper is a pioneer due to her invention, which is now used worldwide. Her creation is the most significant contributor to the computer science world. Graces’ innovation is currently widely used in businesses, finance, and administrative systems for governments and companies. Therefore, she is among the most significant contributors in history and an inspiration to all women. However, women in science are lesser known than their male counterparts due to the continuing bias against women in science.
Works Cited
Beyer, Kurt. Grace Hopper and the invention of the information age. Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation series, (2012): 1-12.
Isaacson, Kris. “What Would Grace Hopper Do? Reclaiming Women’s Place in Computer Science.” (2019). http://hdl.handle.net/11299/211764
Strawn, George, and Candace Strawn. “Grace Hopper: Compilers and Cobol.” IT Professional 17.1 (2015): 62-64. https://doi.org/10.1109/MITP.2015.6
I admire Grace after reading your biography. She is a female scientist with a lot of experience. Created the first computer language compiler for human beings. Women scientists are really not inferior to men.