Linda M. Orlando

Professor Dayton

CS103

02 July 2005

"Grace Hopper: Blazing the Cyber Trail"

No scientist has made greater contributions to the field of computer programming and been more responsible for the advancement of women in the field of computer science than Grace Murray Hopper. Grace Murray was born to Walter Murray, an insurance agent and his wife, Mary, in New York City in December of 1906. She was the first child born into an upper middle class family—just an average child, born into a traditional family. But Grace was not average, and her family was not so traditional.

In Murray's era roles were clearly defined—men worked outside the home, supported the family, and managed the money, while women cooked, cleaned, and cared for the children. But Murray was a unique woman, who grew up in a unique family. Her mother was not a traditional housewife. Instead she encouraged her children to pursue their interests, to be self-sufficient—just as she was.

And, Murray's mother practiced the behaviors she encouraged in her children. She was very independent and self-sufficient. When Murray's father suffered from hardening of the arteries and his legs were amputated he was left unable to work for a time, and was unable to drive. Instead of sitting back and letting others take care of business, Murray's mother took control of the situation.

"At a time when few women drove, his wife went right out and bought a car, a Model-T Ford, and when he was well again, drove her husband to work every day. Throughout his long recovery, Mary took up much of the burden of running the household that would normally have fallen to Walter. It was she who paid the bills, balanced the accounts, and figured the taxes."(Williams 4)

Therefore, Murray's self-reliant, confident, independent attitude came as a direct result of the encouragement and example set by her mother. Murray pursued higher education, attending Vassar College and majoring in mathematics and physics at a time when most women were either not in school, or were pursuing education related to home and family. Murray was not focused on marriage or family, instead expected to be employed in some capacity.

Those women who worked outside the home in Murray's era were employed in primarily female occupations—like office work and teaching. Murray was no exception, in that her first occupation after graduating from college was teaching. However, unlike most female teachers who taught children, Hopper joined the Vassar College Faculty in 1928. Also unlike other women of her era, Hopper pursued graduate study of mathematics at Yale University. She received her MA in 1930 and her PhD in 1934.

Despite Murray's independent nature, she met and married Vincent Hopper in 1930. Like Murray, Hopper was also pursuing advanced education and research, so the two were kept very busy. According to the Williams' biography, Murray's attention to her career and Hopper's pursuits eventually caused marriage problems and by 1941, the two had separated. They divorced in 1945 and though Vincent Hopper remarried, Grace Murray Hopper never did. (17)

"Grace continued to use her married name, never spoke of the divorce, and disliked mention of it in articles about her. Many articles, in fact, stated that she was a widow, and some, including the venerable New York Times, even went so far as to say that her husband died during World War II. In those days, divorce was not acceptable, it was a stigma, and if Grace was not intentionally misleading about her husband, she apparently did nothing to correct the erroneous stories."⁴⁶ (qtd. in Williams 18)

So once again, Grace Murray Hopper was a nontraditional woman—acted in her own best interest despite the thinking of her time. She held advanced degrees, specialized in mathematics and physics, married and divorced—and never had any children. It was her expertise in mathematics and physics that led her to a career in the US Navy Reserves, despite the fact that she was over the enlistment age. She entered the navy as a lieutenant and was slowly promoted through the ranks finally "In 1983, by special Presidential appointment, Hopper was promoted to the rank of Commodore. Two years later, she became one of the first women to be elevated to the rank of Rear Admiral" (Riddle 2).

Hopper's first naval assignment was with the Bureau of Ships Computation Project, which was located on the Harvard University campus. It was during her time at Harvard that Murray Hopper worked on the Mark I, which was one of the earliest computation machines in the world. Her supervisor, Howard Aiken, was a specialist in computational hardware, as well as programming, and he expected his staff to be flexible and informed.

At this point Hopper's computing education under Aiken took an interesting twist. He insisted that she read Charles Babbage's autobiography for the origin of most of the basic computing concepts. Aiken also wanted her to familiarize herself with the work of Lady Ada Lovelace, whom Hopper always remembered for having written the first loop. Hopper did have access to the original Babbage papers, which she found delightful reading. In fact, she thought they were still worth reading by anyone interested in computers because Babbage had some novel ideas that had not yet been implemented."⁷⁷(qtd. in Williams 49)

Hopper continued to work with Aiken after the war ended, even though she was offered a full professorship at Vassar. "[…] here she was on the cusp of something heady and new. She was making history. She was helping to create a whole new field. She had always been innovative, but now she was not just dreaming up new ways to teach old ideas, she was helping to create new ideas."(Williams 63) As a result, Hopper remained at Harvard until 1949.

In June 1949, Hopper went to work in the public sector for Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation in Philadelphia. Again, her specialization in mathematics made her a valuable asset. At this time, computers were primarily being used to do complex calculations, but the era where computers were going to be available to businesses for billing and payroll calculations was fast approaching. However, these machines still needed programmers who understood mathematics and science and a language that could be widely used and understood. Hopper pioneered this field as well.

Hopper became a member of a small software group working directly for John Mauchly. EMCC built the UNIVAC I, which was already under development for the National Bureau of Standards for use by the Census Bureau. (Williams 70). This was the first commercial computer, however, challenges still remained in the area of programming languages. Hopper specialized in this field and in later years would pioneer the following advancements in computer programming:

1. A-0, which was the first compiler that translated symbolic mathematical code into machine code

2. A-2, which was the first compiler that had its own language

3. MATH-MATIC, which was a compiler that could accept English verbs and mathematical symbols and was designed to compete with IBM's FORTRAN

4. FLOW-MATIC, which was a compiler that could translate instructions written in a limited vocabulary of English sentences

(Williams 83- 87)

Hopper remained with EMCC when it was bought by Remington Rand in 1950 and later when it merged with Sperry Corporation. Later, after finally retiring from the navy, she consulted for Digital Equipment Corporation.

In addition to her work accomplishments, Hopper was recognized with several awards during her career:

1969 Data Processing Management Association's first Computer Science Man of the Year Award

1973 First American and first woman to be made a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society

1991 National Medal of Technology (Norman 2-3)

Hopper spent her entire career working in mathematics and in computer science during its infancy. She never believed that there was any discrimination against women in the her field, though she did face the challenge of finding employment after 1949. According to Williams' biography of Hopper, the reason that Hopper was forced to leave Harvard in 1949 and seek other employment opportunities was because women were not being offered tenured positions at Harvard.

However, it should be noted that there were few women who had Hopper's credentials, including her advanced degrees in mathematics and physics and her practical experience with computers that was obtained during her early military career. Therefore, most women faced more challenges than Hopper when they pursued positions in computer science. In fact, according to Williams, in her biography of Grace Hopper, as of 1968 women made up only 8.73 percent of the computer science workforce. (Williams 75)

Hopper was fortunate, in that the military recognized her talents. Exceptions were made for Hopper, which allowed her to attain the rank of admiral and also allowed her to stay in the military, though she was twice "retired". As a result, Hopper's military career spanned over forty years and she was not exposed to the discrimination, lack of opportunities, low pay, and other challenges face by most women.

In fact, When women began to demand equal rights in the 1960's and 1970's, Hopper did not support these movements. Instead, Hopper believed "…there were no innate differences in women's and men's abilities in math and science and saw the wide disparity in jobs as the result of lack of encouragement in school and at home." (Williams 177)

In conclusion, though Grace Murray Hopper blazed the trail for all women in the field of computer science and also in the military, she was one of a privileged few who did not experience the discrimination and lack of opportunities that was the reality for most women of her time. She was from an unusually supportive, upper middle class family, which provided her with educational opportunities. These educational opportunities led to career opportunities.

However, it should be noted that Hopper's unique abilities and personality made her accomplishments possible, as well. A soft-spoken, shy woman who studied literature would not have had the same opportunities or achievements as "Amazing Grace".

Works Cited

MMW Interview, 1: 21-22; Cushman, "Admiral Hopper's Farewell", New York Times, 14 August 1986. Mary Murray Westcote interviews by author, 1, 23 October 1999; 2, 11 December 1999.

Norman, Rebecca. Grace Murray Hopper. Agnes Scott College. Biographies of Women Mathematicians Web Site. January 2001. 02 July 2005 http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/hopper.htm.

SL Hopper Interview, 139-40; NMAH Hopper Interview 1968, 47-48.

Williams, Kathleen Broome. <u>Grace Hopper: Admiral of the Cyber Sea.</u> Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004.