William World News William F. Yurasko's blog v.14 – Nats, Redskins, Capitals, D.C. life, transportation, not so much Penn State anymore,

doubleuefwhy on tumblr

• 
  

  tbridge:

  yellowcakeuranium:

  yellowcakeuranium:

  People do know!!

  millerflintstone replied to your post: Who am I?

  I do. I reblogged her pic a while back.

  meanmrbuddha replied to your post: Who am I?

  Admiral Grace Hopper.

  cokedupjesus replied to your post: Who am I?

  Grace Hopper. Thanks for all the hard work, Grace. I wouldn’t know who you are without you.

  It makes me happy when people know Rear Admiral “Amazing” Grace Hopper!

  Usually known as the inventor of COBOL, which is true, it is a disservice to her actual accomplishments and drive that basically created modern computing. Here’s the original points, plus some more:

  • If Alan Turing is the father of the computer, she is the mother of modern computing. 
  • She has a PhD in mathematics from a time when women were discouraged from knowing math.
  • She developed the first software compiler.
  • She developed machine independent languages.
  • She tried to join the Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but was denied because she was underweight. She persisted and was accepted. She retired as one of the first women to reach the rank of (Commodore at the time, but switched shortly after to) Rear Admiral of the US Navy.
  • She was involved in the development of the UNIVAC.
  • She invented a computer language still in use today (COBOL)
  • She invented the term ‘debugging’ when an associate found a moth in a vacuum tube.
  • She coined the phrase “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.”
  • She has a navy destroyer and cray supercomputer named after her.
  • After retiring from the navy, she worked for DEC. Her primary activity in this capacity was as a goodwill ambassador, lecturing widely on the early days of computers, her career, and on efforts that computer vendors could take to make life easier for their users. She visited a large fraction of Digital’s engineering facilities, where she generally received a standing ovation at the conclusion of her remarks. 
  • Grace Hopper is famous for her nanoseconds visual aid. People (such as generals and admirals) used to ask her why satellite communication took so long. She started handing out pieces of wire which were just under one foot long (11.80 inches), which is the distance that light travels in one nanosecond. She gave these pieces of wire the metonym ”nanoseconds.” 
  • Later she used the same pieces of wire to illustrate why computers had to be small to be fast. At many of her talks and visits, she handed out “nanoseconds” to everyone in the audience, contrasting them with a coil of wire nearly a thousand feet long, representing a microsecond. Later, while giving these lectures while working for DEC, she passed out packets of pepper which she called picoseconds.
  • 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.”
    
  • Jay Elliot described Grace Hopper as appearing to be “all Navy” but when you reach inside, you find a “Pirate” dying to be released.
  • She was laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

  Yes, ladies and gentlemen… the person that took computers from ones and zeros and made computers what they are today is a woman. A military woman. A female scientist. She was brilliant, adventurous, stubborn, and all around awesome. It is a SHAME she isn’t as well known as she is. Please take some time to go over these facts and read that wikipedia article (which I stole most of the facts from). Learn about her. She changed your life for the better!

  Happy birthday Grace!!

  I’ve talked about the Admiral before, but since it’s her birthday, and the Google Doodle is about her today, I’m making sure.

  I lived in her former apartment building, The Potomac at Riverhouse in Pentagon City. I had heard of her from my one compsci class in college.

  
  

  12/09/13

• 
  

  From 2007:

  Not impressed by the fake, hollow rock for Grace Hooper

  
  

  12/09/13