Grace Hopper
For many years, women have been looked down upon in all aspects, from not working and caring for themselves and not receiving a proper education. Many men have looked down on women in the STEM field because they felt superior and didn't want another, weaker in their opinion, gender to take over. Although men and women are both human beings, one gender was above the other in some people's minds. Many women have been able to prove people wrong about the belief towards women, and one of them is named Grace Hopper.
Who is Grace Hopper?
Grace Hopper was an astounding woman. Not only did she have a military background, but she was also a mathematician and a programmer. She was born in 1906 in New York City. Hopper grew up in an unusual time period where many women were going to college and pursuing their educational dreams, but many men still looked down upon it. She was brilliant, and she helped with many things during World War 2. Hopper also grew up receiving private education and going to amazing universities such as Yale for her master’s degree in mathematics and Vassar College for her other degree in programming.
Grace Hopper then taught at Vassar College while getting her Ph.D. in mathematics and mathematical physics, which is incredibly difficult to achieve. She worked hard to achieve her dream in math and did an amazing job at it. Since World War 2 brought many women into the workforce since men were out fighting, she took the opportunity and taught. Even though she was in a male-dominated field, she outdid many men that tried to compete against her. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hopper decided that she wanted to join the military. At first, they didn’t want her because of her size, and she wasn’t very fit, but she persisted all the way through until she got in. She joined the U.S. naval reserve and ended up working at Harvard University. She accomplished many things during her time working there.
What did Grace Hopper accomplish?
Grace Hopper had many accomplishments that she did over the course of her life. One of the first things that she did was help make the Mark I, an IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, which Harvard created during World War 2. Grace was also the 11th woman ever to get a math doctorate. Hopper also wrote the world’s first computer programing manual, which was extremely impressive for someone in such a male-dominated field even to have been given a chance to write something as important as that.
Hopper also helped program many other important computers during World War 2, which helped the U.S. a lot. They really needed her work to carry out many attacks and succeed in their plans. Hopper used very reasonable logic to break down her programming. She could easily put a mathematical equation into a real-world problem which was one reason the male programmers were so willing to work with her. Her process made so much sense, and it helped teach many other people easier ways to learn harder things.
Grace Hopper did so many amazing things and helped so many people in the end. Many people haven’t even heard her name before. She is an essential part of World War 2, and she should be recognized for it. She is still being used by programmers today, and many don’t even know her story.
Bibliography
Isaacson, Walter. “Grace Hopper, Computing Pioneer.” Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 15 June 2018, news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/12/grace-hopper-computing-pioneer/.
“History of Scientific Women.” Grace HOPPER, scientificwomen.net/women/hopper-grace-45.
“Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992): A Legacy of Innovation and Service.” YaleNews, 27 Feb. 2017, news.yale.edu/2017/02/10/grace-murray-hopper-1906-1992-legacy-innovation-and-service.
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