Grace Murray Hopper
Amazing Grace
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Amazing Grace
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nee Grace Brewster Murray
b. Dec. 9, 1906, New York, N.Y., U.S.
d. Jan. 1, 1992, Arlington, Va.
American mathematician and rear admiral in the U.S. Navy who was a pioneer in developing computer technology, helping to devise Univac I, the first commercial electronic computer, and naval applications for COBOL (common-business-oriented language).
After graduating from Vassar College (B.A., 1928), Hopper attended Yale University (M.A., 1930; Ph.D., 1934). She taught mathematics at Vassar before joining the Naval Reserve in 1943. She became a lieutenant and was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance's Computation Project at Harvard University (1944), where she worked on Mark I, the first large-scale automatic calculator and a precursor of electronic computers. She remained at Harvard as a civilian research fellow while maintaining her naval career as a reservist. After a moth infiltrated the circuits of Mark I, she coined the term "bug" to refer to unexplained computer failures.
In 1949 Hopper joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corp., where she designed an improved compiler, which translated a programmer's instructions into computer codes. She remained with the firm when it was taken over by Remington Rand (1951) and by Sperry Rand Corp. (1955). In 1957 her division developed Flow-Matic, the first English-language data-processing compiler. She retired from the navy with the rank of commander in 1966, but she was recalled to active duty the following year to help standardize the navy's computer languages. At the age of 79, she was the oldest officer on active U.S. naval duty when she retired again in 1986. She was elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (1962), was named the first computer science Man of the Year by the Data Processing Management Association (1969), and was awarded the National Medal of Technology (1991).
To cite this page:
"Hopper, Grace Murray" Encyclopędia Britannica Online.
UIC: 21944
Force: Battle Force
Overall Length: 505 ft
Other Hopper Pages...
http://www.chips.navy.mil/chips/grace_hopper/ship.htm
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/destroyers/hopper/hoprcom.html
USS HOPPER (DDG 70) GUIDED MISSILE DESTROYER
Class: DDG 51
Fleet: Pacific
Status: Active, in commission
Homeport: PEARL HARBOR, HI
Date status changed: 09/06/1997
Builder: BATH IRON WKS CORP
Delivery Date: 04/11/1997
Award Date: 04/08/1992 (4 months after Admiral Hopper died)
Keel Date: 02/23/1995
Commission Date: 09/06/1997
Launch Date: 01/06/1996
Waterline Length: 466 ft
Extreme Beam: 66 ft
Waterline Beam: 59 ft
Maximum Navigational Draft: 32 ft
Draft Limit: 22 ft
Light Displacement: 6750 tons
Full Displacement: 8873 tons
Dead Weight: 2123 tons
Hull Material: Steel hull, steel superstructure.
Number of Propellers: 2
Propulsion Type: Gas Turbines
Accommodations: Officers: 26, Enlisted: 315