Profile
Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper USN, Ph.D.
Born: December 9,1906
Died: January 1, 1992
Spouse: Vincent Foster Hopper
Education: Yale University, Vassar College, Wardlaw-Hartridge School
Interest: Mathematics, Computer Science
Service: United States Navy
Years of Service: 1943- 1986
Rank: Rear admiral (lower half)
Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper USN, Ph.D.
Born: December 9,1906
Died: January 1, 1992
Spouse: Vincent Foster Hopper
Education: Yale University, Vassar College, Wardlaw-Hartridge School
Interest: Mathematics, Computer Science
Service: United States Navy
Years of Service: 1943- 1986
Rank: Rear admiral (lower half)
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Background
Grace Hopper was a charming naval officer who worked for the designer of the Mark I computer, Howard Aiken and later for the creators of the general-purpose electronic digital computer. She was born in Manhattan, her mother a mathematician, her father an insurance executive and her grandfather, with whom she spent a great deal a civil engineer. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics form Vassar and a Ph.D. in math from Yale in 1930. She began teaching at Vassar a year later and later married then divorced her husband Vincent Foster Hopper. After her divorce, she quit Vassar and joined the Navy.
Grace Hopper was a charming naval officer who worked for the designer of the Mark I computer, Howard Aiken and later for the creators of the general-purpose electronic digital computer. She was born in Manhattan, her mother a mathematician, her father an insurance executive and her grandfather, with whom she spent a great deal a civil engineer. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics form Vassar and a Ph.D. in math from Yale in 1930. She began teaching at Vassar a year later and later married then divorced her husband Vincent Foster Hopper. After her divorce, she quit Vassar and joined the Navy.
Contributions
Synopsis
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Achievements
Recognition
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Quotes
“I learned languages of oceanography, of this whole business of minesweeping, of detonators, of proximity fuses, of biomedical stuff. We had to learn their vocabularies in order to be able to run their problems. I could switch my vocabulary and speak highly technical for the programmers, and then tell the same things to the managers a few hours later but with a totally different vocabulary.”
“I can’t write a book. I’ve never written one.”
“You simply step by step told the computer what to do. Get this number and add it to that number and put the answer there. Now pick up this number and multiply it by this number and put it there.”
“I learned languages of oceanography, of this whole business of minesweeping, of detonators, of proximity fuses, of biomedical stuff. We had to learn their vocabularies in order to be able to run their problems. I could switch my vocabulary and speak highly technical for the programmers, and then tell the same things to the managers a few hours later but with a totally different vocabulary.”
“I can’t write a book. I’ve never written one.”
“You simply step by step told the computer what to do. Get this number and add it to that number and put the answer there. Now pick up this number and multiply it by this number and put it there.”
Fun Facts
- While teaching Mathematics at Vassar,in her first lectures always had her students to write an essay on her favorite math formula because she insisted that they must all know how to write.
- She knew how to translate just about any problem into a mathematical equation.
- She joined the Navy because her marriage was unexciting, she had no children and teaching was becoming fulfilling