Grace Hopper
Birth: December 9, 1906
Death: January 1, 1992
Academic Events:
- Graduated from Vassar College with a degree in mathematics & physics
- Received her master's degree and PhD in mathematics at Yale
- Taught mathematics at Vassar while pursuing her doctorate
- Studied with Richard Courant at NYU
- Joined the U.S. Naval Women's Reserve
- Assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at harvard
- Joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation as a senior mathematician
- Took part in the Conference on Data Systems Language
- Worked as a senior consultant in public relations at the Digital Equipment Corporation
Main Contribution to Computer Science:
- Participated in the designing of COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language), known by the 1970s as the "most extensively used computer language in the world"
Other Contributions to Computer Science:
- Worked on the MARK I computer at Harvard University
- Helped create FLOW-MATIC, the "first programming language to use word commands"
- Worked on the UNIVAC I and II computers
- With colleagues, she worked on calculations which were vital for the war effort, such as rocket trajectories, calibrating minesweepers, and more
- Wrote the user manual for the MARK I computer
Fun Fact:
- Her subordinates gave her the nickname "Amazing Grace" because of her astounding accomplishments in life
- She helped familiarize the term "debugging" after a mother was found in a computer
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