DEFINING theCOMPUTER AGE IXDS5503: Media History and Theory Professor: Jason Occhipinti March 6, 2015 By: Venus M. Popplewell
The Story of Computer Pioneer ADMIRAL GRACE HOPPER
Defining the Computer Age:
The Story of Computer Pioneer Admiral Grace Hopper Introduction On December 8, 1941 the United States declared war on
the Japanese Empire. Grace Brewster Murray Hopper sat in her office at Vassar College listening to the events on a
small radio. Soon the war effort would lead her away from
her comfortable position as a college professor and put her in the forefront of the computer revolution. This paper will
detail the storied life of the unrelenting and fearless Grace Hopper who trail-blazed alongside some of the greatest innovators, mathematicians and engineers of the era.
Hopper and her peers, men and women, would pioneer
what are now the fundamental computer concepts that run our modern world.
The Early Years
Grace Brewster Murray was born on December 9, 1906 in New York City to a well-established family. Of Grace’s parents Beyer (2009)1 states “Grace’s mother was an accomplished math-
ematician, and her father, a life insurance executive, made no distinction when it came to educating his son and his two daughters. The Murray home at 316 West 95th Street in New York City, filled with books, provided an environment in which young Grace’s academic ambitions were supported and encouraged.” Williams (2004) says that Grace was a curious child and often described herself as having a “basic drive towards technology” (p. 1).
“In September 1924, Grace took the train up the Hudson to begin her college career at Vassar College” (Williams, 2004, p. 9). Williams (2004) explains that the Great Depression hastened the drift away from equality in education and economic opportunity. Widespread unemploy-
ment raised the notion that working women were selfishly taking jobs away from men. Therefore, Vassar created a “School of Euthenics” designed “to raise motherhood to a profession Grace Murray at Vassar, Circa 1930
worthy of women’s finest talents and intellec-
tual gifts”. Disregarding the trend, Hopper concentrated on mathematics and physics (p. 9). Grace graduated from Vassar with honors in 1928 and on June 12, 1930 married Vincent
Foster Hopper. “In 1930 she earned a masters degree and in 1934 a Ph.D. in mathematics at Yale, a rare accomplishment for women in
Thompson Library at Vassar College, Circa 1930
those days, and then she returned to Vassar to teach. By the time of Pearl Harbor, Hopper
had worked her way up to associate professor of mathematics at Vassar” (Booss-Bavnbek & Hoyrup, 2003, p. 111).
Grace, Math and the War
“Though her tenured position at Vassar appeared ideal, deep down
Grace wanted to escape a job that was secure and respected but no longer challenging” (Beyer, 2009).2
The attack by the Japanese on American soil according to Beyer
(2009)3 “awakened a deep patriotism in Grace.” Hopper had a rich heritage of family members serving in the military. But little did she know Pearl Harbor would become the “external catalyst” (Beyer,
2009)4 that ignites a lifelong discipline that would contribute as much to
society, technology and the economy as the industrial revolution innovations of the 1800s.
On July 30, 1942, President Roosevelt signed the Navy Women’s
Reserve Act, which authorized the formation of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). In December of 1943,
Grace Hopper obtained a leave of absence from Vassar College and reported to the United States Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School. While Hopper was completing basic training at the Midshipmen’s Grace Hopper upon graduation from midshipman’s school June 27, 1944
School “a one-of-a-kind calculating machine had been shipped to Harvard University from IBM’s laboratory in Endicott, New York“ (Beyer,
2009)5. Because of her Ph.D in mathematics, Grace was immediately reassigned to Harvard and was “about to become the third programmer of the world’s first computer” (Beyer, 2009).6
Grace and The World’s First Computer Grace Hopper is only one of many women that made significant
contributions to the profession of computer programming in the
1940s and 50s. The entry of women into the field, like Grace,
came about because of wartime efforts. Mathematical machines
were built to calculate the weapon trajectories for soldiers fight-
ing in the war. Women with mathematical degrees were re-
cruited to work as “computers” to actually compute, by hand,
the numbers for the military. But Grace shares a unique place in
the history of computing. Grace Hopper worked side-by-side
with the leading computer pioneers of the generation.
The men of the early digital revolution (from left): Howard Aiken, John Von Neumann, and John Mauchly with J. Presper Eckert
Howard Aiken
Grace met Howard Aiken at Harvard when she was assigned
to work with him on Mark I. Officially called the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, Mark I was the brainchild of
Lieutenant Commander Howard Aiken. Aiken called the ma-
chine a “land-based ship” (Beyer, 2009).7 The Mark I stood 8 feet high, 3 feet wide and 51 feet long. It weighed 9,445 pounds and had 350 miles of wiring.
“It was a new type of secret weapon that could change
the outcome of the war. It was to be used to calculate solutions for rocket trajectories, proximity fuses, and mines, and to generate tables of mathematical functions that could be used to solve general engineering problems
ranging from radio wave propagation to ship hull design” (Beyer, 2009).8
Because Hopper was well-written and could easily articulate
the problems associated with the machine, Aiken ordered her to write what was to become the ‘world’s first computer pro-
gramming manual’. “The result was five-hundred-page book
that was the history of the Mark I and a guide to programming it“ (Isaacson, 2014, p. 90). As stated by Isaacson (2014), by 1945, thanks largely to Hopper, the Harvard Mark I was the world’s most easily programmable big computer (p. 94).
Grace Hopper seated next to Howard Aiken (left) and the Mark I team at Harvard. Circa 1942
The “Subroutine”
Hopper contributed to many significant events in the history of computing while working with Howard Aiken and the Mark I.
Among the programming innovations Hopper refined was the
“subroutine”, a program that could be stored in the machine to handle operations that were required repeatedly. As stated by Williams (2004) “She was always looking for shortcuts,
which in the early days meant assembling collections of subroutines. A subroutine was a clearly defined, easily symbolized, often repeated program” (p. 52).
The “Bug”
In addition, her crew helped to advance the terms bug and debugging. “They found a moth with a wingspan of four
inches that had gotten smashed in one of the electromechanical relays. It was retrieved and pasted into the logbook with
Scotch tape. “Panel F (moth) in relay,” the entry noted. “First
actual case of bug being found.” From then on, they referred to ferreting out glitches as “debugging the machine” (Isaacson, 2014, p. 94).
John Von Neumann
And it is while working with the Harvard Mark I team that Admi-
ral Hopper becomes associated with a second technological pioneer. John Von Neumann was referred to by his peers as “the great mathematician and mathematical physicist of the day” (Beyer, 2009).9
Von Neumann was commissioned to work on the Manhattan Project, a secret development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II. Von Neumann needed a
way to speed up the mathematical process so he visited the
Harvard crew to better understand how the Mark I (which was
now in it’s second iteration, the Mark II) could help with the implosion problems they were encountering with the bomb. Hopper was told the specifics of the problem but not the context.
Beyer (2009)10 states that “Hopper was well versed in partial dif-
ferential equations “ and she, along with another coder, provided the mathematical answer to solving the implosion
problem with the bomb. It was a full year after the bomb was detonated on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that Hopper and her
team “[became] aware of the magnitude of their work” (Beyer, 2009).11 The atomic bomb essentially ended World War II in August 1945.
John Von Neumann, Circa 1940s
Grace and The Breakthrough Computer
“Grace Murray Hopper was admired and respected not only for
her technological achievements but also for her energy, enthusiasm, and willingness to serve as a mentor” (Gürer, 2002).
John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert
“In 1949, Hopper joined what is widely regarded as the first computer “startup,” the (EMCC) Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corpora-
tion” (Staff, n.d.). J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly were two of the leading minds and creators of the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) which was regarded as the
first general-purpose electronic computer. Eckert and Mauchly
believed they could “create the first commercial computer company” (Beyer, 2009).12
According to Williams (2004), Hopper became a member of a J. Presper Eckert (left) and John Mauchly, Circa 1940s
small software group working directly for John Mauchly (p. 69). Williams (2004) goes on to say “their objective was to create a
truly universal electronic device that could deal with [commercial and accounting problems] equally well” (p. 70).
“The UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a high-speed electronic digital computer that dealt with numerical data and
(continued)
that could also handle alphabetic characters. True to Eckert’s and Mauchly’s original intention, it was designed as a general-pur-
pose machine for commercial as well as scientific use” (Williams, 2004, p. 71 ). The UNIVAC was completed in 1951 and was a success. It was considered the ‘first break-through’ computer. “After working closely with Mauchly to develop an instruction
code for UNIVAC, she began the work that was to make her justly famous: her role in the invention of the compiler and her part in the creation of COBOL” (Williams, 2004, p. 76).
Grace and The Vision of COBOL “A true visionary, Admiral Hopper conceptualized how a much
wider audience could use the computer if there were tools that
were both programmer-friendly and application-friendly”(‘Grace
Murray Hopper’, n.d.). Hopper believed that computer programs
could be written in English. She moved forward with the development of the B-O compiler, later known as FLOW-MATIC. “It was
designed to translate a language that could be used for typical business tasks like automatic billing and payroll calculation”
(‘Grace Murray Hopper’, n.d.). “Using FLOW-MATIC, Admiral
Hopper and her crew were able to “make the UNIVAC I and II understand twenty statements in English.” How-
ever, “it was three years before her idea was finally accepted; she published her first compiler paper in 1952” (‘Grace Murray Hopper’, n.d.).
Through her vision for the compiler, Grace delivered
computer programming to the masses. “Hopper’s vigorous efforts to further the cause of automatic programming led to the development of Common Business
Oriented Language (COBOL)” (Beyer, 2009).13 Isaacson
(2014) describes it as the “first cross-platform standardized business language for computers” (p. 117).
“The bulk of COBOL, including the format, was based on Hopper’s 1958 FLOW-MATIC manual. FLOW-
MATIC had the advantage of being the only business
data-processing high-level language in use prior to the introduction of COBOL. The navy was quick to de-
mand COBOL, accepting it officially in 1960, and other
organizations began to implement it as well” (Williams, 2004, p. 93).
COBOL is the major language used today in data processing. Isaacson (2014) qualifies Hopper’s role in this ground-breaking innovation by stating “It also showed her early understanding of a defining fact of the computer age: that hardware would
become commoditized and that programming would be where the true value resided. Until Bill Gates came along, it was an insight that eluded most of the men” (pp. 117-118).
The Later Years and “Retirement” “The story of COBOL's development illustrated Hopper's wide-reaching influence in the field of programming. IBM had developed FORTRAN, the densely mathematical programming language best suited to scientists. But no comparable language existed for business, despite the clear advantages that computers offered in the area of information processing” (‘Grace Hopper Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Grace Hopper’, n.d.). Hopper retired from the Naval Reserve in 1966 but would remain with the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (later bought by
Remington Rand in 1950, which became Sperry Rand) until 1971. Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, Circa late 1980s
“She became captain on the retired list of the Naval Reserve in 1973 and commodore in 1983. In 1985 she earned the
rank of rear admiral before retiring in 1986. But her profes-
sional life did not end there. She became a senior consultant for the Digital Equipment Corporation immediately after leav-
ing the Navy and worked there until her death, on January 1,
1992” (‘Grace Hopper Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Grace Hopper’, n.d.).
“Hopper was widely recognized for her achievements and her often humorous lectures on computer science topics. She received many awards, including the United States National
Medal of Technology (1991)” (‘Grace Murray Hopper | Computer History Museum’, n.d.). Grace Hopper received more
than 40 honorary degrees from universities worldwide during her lifetime (‘Computer Pioneers - Grace Brewster Murray Hopper’, n.d.).
In closing, Grace talks about her contributions to society,
“The most important thing I've accomplished, other than building the compiler, is training young people. They come to me, you know, and say, 'Do you think we can do this?' I say, ‘Try it.’ And I back 'em up. They need that. I keep track of them as they get older and I stir 'em up at intervals so they don't forget to take chances” (Lynn Gilbert and Gaylen Moore, 1981, pp. 95-96 ).
References Beyer, K. (2009). Grace Hopper and the invention of the information age (Kindle.). United Kingdom: MIT Press Ltd. (see Footnotes for ebook locations) Booss-Bavnbek, B., & Hoyrup, J. (2003). Mathematics and War. Switzerland: Springer-Verlag New York, LLC. (p. 111) Computer Pioneers - Grace Brewster Murray Hopper. (n.d.). Retrieved 6 March 2015, from http://computer.org/computer-pioneers/hopper.html Grace Hopper Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Grace Hopper. (n.d.). Retrieved 6 March 2015, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Grace_Hopper.aspx Grace Murray Hopper. (n.d.). Retrieved 6 March 2015, from http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/Files/hopper-story.html Grace Murray Hopper | Computer History Museum. (n.d.). Retrieved 6 March 2015, from http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Grace,Hopper/ G端rer, D. (2002). Pioneering Women in Computer Science. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 34(2). doi:10.1145/543812.543853 Isaacson, W. (2014). The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution. United States: Simon and Schuster. (pp. 69-76, 90-96, 117-118)
Defining the Computer Age:
The Story of Computer Pioneer Admiral Grace Hopper
Lynn Gilbert and Gaylen Moore. (1981). Particular Passions: Talks with Women who have Shaped our Times. United States: C. N. Potter!; distributed by Crown. (pp. 95-96) Staff, F. F. (n.d.). Grace Hopper and Information-Age Invention. Retrieved 6 March 2015, from http://futureforce.navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/06/grace-hopper-and-information-age-invention/ Williams, K. B. (2004). Grace Hopper: Admiral of the Cyber Sea (Kindle.). United States: US Naval Institute Press. (pp. 1, 9, 52, 69-71)
# Footnotes 1
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2
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Beyer, 2009, Chapter 1, Section 1, para. 1 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 1, Section 3, para. 3 3 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 1, Section 3, para. 2 4 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 1, Section 3, para. 2 5 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 1, Section 4, para. 2 6 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 1, Section 4, para. 2 7 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 1, Section 4, para. 5
Beyer, 2009, Chapter 1, Section 4, para. 5 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 4, Section 2, para. 10 10 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 4, Section 2, para. 10 11 Beyer 2009, Chapter 4, Section 2, para. 8 12 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 6, Introduction, para. 5 13 Beyer, 2009, Chapter 10, Section 1, para. 1