Grace Hopper was a computer programming pioneer and U.S. Navy rear admiral best known for her work on early compilers and for helping develop and promote COBOL, a programming language for business applications.
Born Grace Brewster Murray in New York City, she graduated from Vassar College in 1928 and earned a master’s degree in 1930 and a doctorate in 1934 from Yale University. She taught mathematics at Vassar before entering the U.S. Naval Reserve in December 1943. During World War II, she worked at Harvard University as one of the first programmers of the Mark I computer and wrote its user manual.
In 1949, Hopper joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, where she worked on UNIVAC computers. Her work included the A-0 compiler system and the development of FLOW-MATIC, which used English words for data-processing instructions. She subsequently helped advance COBOL and encouraged its adoption, supporting the use of programming languages accessible to people without specialized mathematical training.
Hopper also helped standardize the Navy’s computer languages and programs. Known as “Amazing Grace,” she retired from the Navy as a rear admiral at age 79 and later worked as a consultant for Digital Equipment Corporation.
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