Women In Public Service (audio)

Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was a pioneer in computer science, one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, and developed the first compiler for a computer programming language. Hopper conceptualized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages. She is credited with popularizing the term “debugging” for fixing computer glitches (motivated by an actual moth removed from the computer). Because of her accomplishments and her naval rank, she was affectionately dubbed “Amazing Grace.” Born Grace Brewster Murray, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar in 1928 with a degree in mathematics and physics and earned her master’s degree at Yale in 1930. She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale in 1934. She was married to NYU professor Vincent Hopper from 1930 until their divorce in 1945; she never remarried. In 1943, Hopper volunteered to serve in the WAVES and was s