You’d think all computer geniuses were and are male. You’d think women wouldn’t be capable of handling computer programming and thriving at it. Well, both of these assumptions are completely false. Women have been and are very much capable of mastering computer programming. maths and other related fields. Men and supporters of the traditional patriarchy and its repressive and misogynistic values just aren’t aware of it.
They don’t want to be aware of it. And they don’t want you to be aware of it. But all the facts are there, waiting to be discovered and acknowledged. Some of these facts are reflected in the late American computer scientist, mathematician and navy admiral Grace Hopper (1906–1992) and the groundbreaking work she undertook in computer programming.
Grace was born in New York in 1906. She attended a prep school in New Jersey. From there, she went to Vassar College before leaving with a BA. Grace also attended Yale University, completing Masters and PHD courses in Mathematics before going on to teach at Vassar. During WWII in 1943, she decided to leave Vassar so she could become a member of Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service).
Grace was then made a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) the following year and joined the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard University. Her group made one of the first models of the modern electronic computer: the Mark I. This invention majorly revolutionised computer technology.
She also penned a lengthy operations manual that explained the basic operating rules of computers. Tellingly, Grace also conceived the term bug in reference to a computer error. Ever the committed academic, her post-war career saw her head to Harvard in 1949 where she became a valued research fellow. She was also able to continue her computer work by joining the Eckert-Mauchly Corporation.
In addition to this, Grace was a key participant in the launch of UNIVAC, the world’s first sophisticated digital computer device. More impressively, she made the first computer compiler which is a system that uses computers to translate writing into codes. This in turn led to the inception of an early computer language: COBOL. The function of COBOL was it allowed computers to make responses to not only words but numbers.
Grace also gave a prolific number of lectures, once accurately foretelling the existence of desktop computers and their regular use by the public. In her professional career, she was able to maintain contact with the US Navy. 1966 was when she made the rank of Commander. This was followed by assignments to several highly important positions: Chief of Naval Operations as Director, Navy Languages Group in ’67, the rise to Captain in ’73, to Commodore in ’83, and to Rear Admiral in ’85.
The Defence Distinguished Service Medal (the best military award presented to one who hasn’t fought in action) was also given to Grace in 1987. Her work in computer programming set new standards both at home in the US and abroad. This is attested by her becoming the first respected female fellow of the British Computer Society (a traditionally male-dominated organisation) in 1973.
Grace also returned to teaching after her retirement, educating bright young minds until her passing at the ripe age of eighty-five in 1992. To top off an already decorated life, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then US President Barack Obama in 2016.
Still not convinced women have been and are awesome computer programmers, mathematicians and scientists? You should be. Don’t heed the lies, hate and misinformation of the modern patriarchy. It doesn’t know what it’s talking about, especially since it deliberately excludes women like Grace Hopper from history.
And women like her are everywhere. Grace was just one of these women. She was one of the greatest computer programmers and computer scientists of all time. It should be common knowledge. Spread the word about her. She merits it.
