Grace Hopper

Grace Brewster Murray was born on December 9, 1906, in New York City. After graduating from Vassar College with a B.A. in 1928, she pursued advanced studies in mathematics at Yale University, earning a master's degree in 1930 and a Ph.D. in 1934. Following her education, she began teaching mathematics at Vassar College in 1931, eventually becoming an associate professor by 1941. When the United States entered World War II, Hopper attempted to enlist in the Navy but was initially rejected due to her age, weight, and the perceived importance of her academic position to the war effort. Undeterred, she obtained a leave of absence from Vassar in 1943 and joined the Navy WAVES. Assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard University, Hopper joined the programming team led by Howard Aiken working on the Mark I, the first large-scale automatic calculator and precursor to electronic computers. After the war ended, Hopper requested a transfer to the regular Navy but was denied due to her age. She declined a full professorship at Vassar and remained in the Naval Reserve, continuing as a research fellow at the Harvard Computation Lab until 1949. In 1949, she joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation as a senior mathematician on the UNIVAC project. During her time at UNIVAC, Hopper developed her original compiler, known as the A compiler, and her department created some of the first compiler-based programming languages, including ARITH-MATIC, MATH-MATIC, and FLOW-MATIC. Throughout her career in the computer industry, Hopper maintained her affiliation with the Naval Reserve. By 1966, she had attained the rank of Commander. However, age restrictions forced her to reluctantly retire that year at age 60. Just months later, the Navy requested her return to active service to help standardize multiple computer languages and programs across the fleet. She was promoted to Captain in 1973 and served as director of the Navy Programming Languages Group from 1967 to 1977. Hopper continued her naval service and was promoted to Commodore in 1983 and Rear Admiral in 1985. She eventually retired a second time at age 80 as Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, making her the oldest serving officer in the Navy at the time.