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Grace Hopper
Computer scientist

Grace Hopper

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Helping make computer programming readable in English-like language.

COBOL · US Navy

Born
9 December 1906
Birthplace
New York City, USA
Died
1 January 1992

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Grace Hopper

An American mathematician and naval officer who helped move programming from machine-specific instructions towards more accessible languages.

Early life

Curious childhood

Grew up in New York and investigated how household mechanisms worked.

Mathematics training

Studied at Vassar and earned a doctorate at Yale.

Career

  1. 1930s

    Mathematics teacher

    Taught at Vassar College.

  2. 1944

    Harvard Mark I

    Joined the wartime computing team as a naval officer.

  3. 1949

    Commercial computing

    Joined Eckert–Mauchly to work on UNIVAC.

  4. 1959

    Language standards

    Participated in the work that produced COBOL.

Contributions

A-0 system

Developed an early tool for assembling reusable program routines.

FLOW-MATIC

Led work on an English-like data-processing language.

COBOL

Helped shape and promote a common business programming language.

Beyond work

Naval service

Reached the rank of rear admiral.

Teaching approach

Used vivid demonstrations to explain computing to broad audiences.

Sources & photo creditBiographical reference ↗Computer History Museum: programming languages ↗

Photo: James S. Davis. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.