Grace Hopper

The story, in brief.

Grace Brewster Hopper was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. She was a pioneer of computer programming. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages, and used this theory to develop the FLOW-MATIC programming language, which was a major influence on COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today. She was also one of the first programmers on the Harvard Mark I computer. She is credited with writing the first computer manual, "A Manual of Operation for the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator", and is often credited with creating the first compiler.

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A life in milestones.

Selected records from Wikidata. Ages are approximate; “c.” marks uncertain dates. This is a starting point for exploration, not a complete life history.

1. 1906
   Life

   Born in New York City

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2. 1923~ age 17
   Education

   Wardlaw-Hartridge School

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3. 1928~ age 22
   Education

   Yale University

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4. 1950~ age 44
   Work

   Remington Rand

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5. 1964~ age 58
   Recognition

   Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award

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6. 1972~ age 66
   Recognition

   Wilbur Cross Medal

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7. 1973~ age 67
   Recognition

   Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society

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8. 1983~ age 77
   Recognition

   ACM Distinguished Service Award

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9. 1985~ age 79
   Recognition

   Defense Distinguished Service Medal

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10. 1987~ age 81
    Recognition

    Washington Award

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11. 1991~ age 85
    Recognition

    National Medal of Technology and Innovation

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12. 1992~ age 86
    Life

    Death

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