1987 Fellow Awards Recipient
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For her development of programming languages, computer instruction, and lifelong naval service.
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Grace Murray Hopper
(1906-1992)
(1906-1992)
Grace Murray Hopper is, in Charlene Billings's phrase, "the grandmother of the computer age." Her friends called her "Amazing Grace." She was a seminal influence on modern computing, developing software for the Mark I and the UNIVAC I computers, and leading the development of compilers for the COBOL language.
She served as a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Fond of whimsy, she cataloged the first computer "bug" - a moth that flew into a Mark I relay and caused the machine to malfunction. The list of her awards and degrees exceeds two full pages, including the National Medal of Technology and thirty-seven honorary doctoral degrees. She received a Ph.D. degree from Yale University in 1930.