Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist, mathematician and US Navy rear admiral. To commemorate her achievements in computer programming, the University's media asset management system, Media Hopper Create, was named in honour of her. Image Grace Hopper was born in New York City, and was a computer scientist and mathematician. She was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, and the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages. This theory was later utilised in the creation of the widely-used programming language COBOL. Before she joined the US Navy, Hopper obtained a PhD in mathematics and mathematical physics from Yale University and taught mathematics at Vassar College. Hopper joined the Navy Reserves during World War Two, and co-authored three papers based on her work on Harvard Mark I, one of the earliest general-purpose computers used in WWII. Whilst working on a Mark II computer at Harvard University, Hopper and her colleagues discovered a moth stuck in a relay, preventing the computer from operating as it should. Once removed, the insect was logged with the note "first actual case of bug being found". This is thought to be the origin of the term "debugging", a word widely used in computer programming to refer to the removal of "bugs" (defects or problems) from code. Hopper retired from the Naval Reserve in 1966, but was recalled to active duty in the Navy in 1967, and went on to become rear admiral. She received the National Medal of Technology, and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The media asset management system Media Hopper Create was named after her, to commemorate her contributions to computer programming. To read more, please visit: Grace Hopper - Wikipedia This article was published on 2024-10-08
