格蕾丝·霍珀Grace Hopper

格蕾丝·霍珀出生时名叫格蕾丝·霍珀 Brewster 詹姆斯·D·默里，是三个孩子中最大的。她的父亲Walter Murray是一名保险经纪人，而她的母亲Mary Van Horne热爱数学，并将这份热爱传给了女儿。格蕾丝·霍珀的父母都认为她和她的姐妹应该接受与她的兄弟同等质量的教育。

这本书[2]包含了对她童年的迷人叙述。它讲述了与表兄弟姐妹在新罕布什尔州沃尔夫伯勒温特沃斯湖畔的小屋中度过的夏天，以及他们在那里玩的游戏，如踢罐子、捉迷藏和警察抓强盗。它还描述了她刺绣、阅读和弹钢琴的爱好。格蕾丝·霍珀的童年确实有她对机械着迷的迹象，在[2]中有一个有趣的故事，讲述她七岁时把闹钟拆开，想弄清楚它是如何工作的。由于无法重新组装，她又把家里找到的另外七个钟拆开，直到她母亲发现发生了什么。

格蕾丝·霍珀在纽约市的两所女子私立学校接受教育，即格雷厄姆学校和斯库恩梅克斯学校。她打算1923年进入瓦萨学院，但拉丁语考试不及格，被要求再等一年。她在新泽西州普兰菲尔德的哈特里奇学校度过了这个学年，然后于1924年进入瓦萨学院。她在瓦萨学院学习数学和物理，1928年获得学士学位。毕业后，她在耶鲁大学从事数学研究。

1930年，Grace Murray嫁给了来自纽约大学的英语教师文森特·福斯特格蕾丝·霍珀。瓦萨学院奖学金让她得以在耶鲁大学学习，同样在1930年，耶鲁大学授予她硕士学位。1931年，她开始在瓦萨学院数学系担任讲师，并一直在那里工作到1943年，那时已被提升为副教授。格蕾丝·霍珀于1934年由耶鲁大学授予博士学位，学位论文为New Types of Irreducibility Criteria，由奥斯丁·欧尔指导。格蕾丝·霍珀于1941年作为瓦萨学院教师研究员在纽约大学学习。

格蕾丝·霍珀想在美国一进入第二次世界大战时就参军。然而，她34岁太老了（而且相对于身高不够重）无法入伍，无论如何，作为数学教授，她的工作被认为对战争努力至关重要。然而，她决心加入海军，尽管被告知留在瓦萨学院的教学岗位能最好地为国家服务，她最终在1943年说服海军预备队接受她，她还说服瓦萨学院准假。

在海军候补军官学校接受初步训练并被任命为少尉后，格蕾丝·霍珀被分配到哈佛大学克鲁夫特实验室的军械计算局计算项目。从1944年起，她与霍华德·艾肯一起在哈佛马克一号计算机上工作[7]：

一到克鲁夫特实验室，她就立刻遇到了马克一号计算机。对她来说，这是一个吸引人的小玩意儿，就像她年轻时的闹钟一样；她几乎等不及要把它拆开弄个明白。……格蕾丝·霍珀成为第三个为马克一号编程的人。

霍华德·艾肯在她一到哈佛时就给了她第一个编程任务，即：-

在下周四之前计算出反正切级数的系数。

到战争结束时，格蕾丝·霍珀正在哈佛马克二号计算机上工作。正是在这台机器上发现了第一个真正的“计算机虫”：一只飞蛾使机器中17000个继电器中的一个短路了。

1946年，格蕾丝·霍珀结束了她在海军的现役，但仍保留预备役职务。她辞去了瓦萨学院的职位，以便留在哈佛，在那里她被任命为计算实验室工程科学和应用物理的研究员。她继续在马克二号上工作，后来又在马克三号计算机上工作。

1949年，格蕾丝·霍珀加入埃克特-约翰·莫克利计算机公司，担任高级数学家，并在那里与约翰·皮斯普·埃克特和约翰·莫克利一起在UNIVAC计算机上工作。她在为公司工作期间设计了一个改进的编译器，并且是开发Flow-Matic的团队成员，这是第一个英语数据处理编译器[12]：-

1952年，她有了一个可运行的编译器。“没人相信，”她说。“我有一个能运行的编译器，却没人愿意碰它。他们告诉我计算机只能做算术。”

格蕾丝·霍珀后来写道，她设计编译器的原因是她懒，并希望编译器的引入能让计算机程序员回归数学家的身份。的确，今天在我们看来，这似乎是计算机前进的必经之路，但这是格蕾丝·霍珀极具远见的想法。事实上，思考计算机如何发展，尤其是今天有了⟦E1⟧和⟦E2⟧这样的系统，人们会看到格蕾丝·霍珀对计算机如何成为数学家如此重要工具的非凡远见。

1950年，Remington Rand公司收购了约翰·皮斯普·埃克特-约翰·莫克利计算机公司，并将其更名为Remington Rand的UNIVAC部门。格蕾丝·霍珀成为UNIVAC部门的系统工程师和自动编程开发总监。她继续从事编译器的工作，并于1952年发表了关于该主题的第一篇论文。随后，她参与了为通用商业语言制定规范的工作。由于Flow-Matic是当时唯一现有的商业语言，它不可避免地成为最终于1959年问世的COBOL（面向商业的通用语言）语言规范的基础。她还有另一个与编译器相关的重要目标，即标准化。她的目标是计算机语言应有国际标准化，她强烈主张验证程序。

格蕾丝·霍珀从来不是那种一次只做一份工作的人。在她在Remington Rand公司任职期间，她同时涉足学术界和海军，然后从1955年起在同年与Remington Rand合并的Sperry公司任职。她与学术界的联系很多，有时担任访问职位，如1959年她是宾夕法尼亚大学摩尔电气工程学院的访问讲师。她一直担任美国海军预备役的顾问和讲师，直到1966年12月退休，那时她已晋升为指挥官军衔。

海军和格蕾丝·霍珀并没有分开很久，因为1967年8月，她被召回海军现役。此时她从斯佩里公司请了军假，并且没有回到那个工作岗位，1971年她65岁时从那里退休。她回到海军原本只打算待六个月[5]：-

……应时任海军部长自动数据处理特别助理Norman Ream的请求。六个月结束后，她的命令被改为她的服务将无限期需要。1973年，她被海军作战部长Elmo Zumwalt, Jr.上将晋升为上校。1977年，她被任命为海军数据自动化司令部司令的特别顾问，直到退休。

在海军现役并没有阻止格蕾丝·霍珀担任学术职务，1971年至1978年间，她是乔治华盛顿大学管理科学讲师。

格蕾丝·霍珀于1986年8月从海军退休，时年80岁，她是美国最年长的现役军官。她已晋升为少将，1983年12月在白宫仪式上晋升为准将，然后于1985年成为少将格蕾丝·霍珀。在波士顿宪法号上为她退休举行的庆祝活动中，格蕾丝·霍珀被授予国防杰出服务奖章，这是国防部可能授予的最高奖项。

在经历了涉及许多完全不同领域的许多工作的职业生涯后，人们可能会期望她期待安静的退休生活。然而，这不是她的风格，而且引人注目的是，从海军退休后，她被任命为数字设备公司的高级顾问，她一直担任该职位直到1990年。她的工作涉及代表[3]：-

……在计算机产业论坛上做数字化方面的发言，介绍先进计算概念以及信息和数据的价值，并担任公司与教育机构之间的联络人。

在漫长的职业生涯中，格蕾丝·霍珀获得的奖项如此之多，本文只能列举其中少数几项。她于1962年当选电气与电子工程师学会会士，1963年当选美国科学促进会会士，并于1964年获得女性工程师协会成就奖，1968年获得电气与电子工程师学会成就奖。

1969年，格蕾丝·霍珀被数据处理管理协会评为首位年度计算机科学人物。1970年，她获得哈里·M·古德纪念奖，该奖由计算机学会颁发，包括一枚奖章和2000美元：-

表彰她在计算机软件开发中的开创性工作和领导作用，表彰她对计算行业及同行的影响与带动，表彰她在数学与商业编译器重要概念开发中的开创性工作和领导作用，表彰她对面向问题的英语编程语言的开发与推广所作贡献，以及表彰她在培养男女人才从事计算机科学与数据处理职业方面的杰出工作和持续努力。

1973年，她成为首位当选英国计算机学会杰出会士的女性，也是首位获此荣誉的美国人。同年，她当选美国国家工程院院士，并获得功绩勋章。格蕾丝·霍珀获得了数量惊人的荣誉学位，1972年至1987年间至少获得37个。

1991年，乔治·布什总统向格蕾丝·霍珀颁发了国家技术奖章。她[3]：-

……第一位以个人身份获得美国最高技术奖的女性。该奖项认可她作为计算机先驱，半个世纪以来一直帮助美国保持在高科技前沿。

Grace Hopper was born Grace Brewster Murray, the oldest of three children. Her father, Walter Murray, was an insurance broker while her mother, Mary Van Horne, had a love of mathematics which she passed on to her daughter. Both Grace's parents believed that she and her sister should have an education of the same quality as her brother.

The book [2] contains a fascinating account of her childhood. It tells of summers spent with her cousins in their cottage on Lake Wentworth in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire and the games they played there such as kick-the-can, hide-and-seek and cops-and-robbers. It also describes her hobbies of needlepoint, reading and playing the piano. There were certainly signs in Grace's childhood of her fascination with machines and in [2] there is a delightful story of how, when she was seven years old, she took her alarm clock to pieces to find out how it worked. Unable to reassemble it, she took to pieces the other seven clocks she found in the house before her mother discovered what was happening.

Grace was educated at two private schools for girls, namely Graham School and Schoonmakers School both in New York City. Intending to enter Vassar College in 1923 she failed a Latin examination and was required to wait another year. She spent the academic year at Hartridge School in Plainfield, New Jersey then entered Vassar College in 1924. She studied mathematics and physics at Vassar College graduating with a BA in 1928. After graduating she undertook research in mathematics at Yale University.

In 1930 Grace Murray married Vincent Foster Hopper, an English teacher from New York University. A Vassar College Fellowship allowed her to study at Yale University and, also in 1930, Yale awarded her an MA. In 1931 she began teaching mathematics at Vassar College as an instructor in the Department of Mathematics and she continued on the staff there until 1943, having been promoted by that time to an associate professorship. Hopper was awarded her doctorate by Yale University in 1934 for a thesis New Types of Irreducibility Criteria which was supervised by Øystein Ore. Hopper attended New York University as a Vassar Faculty Fellow in 1941.

Hopper wanted to join the military as soon as the United States entered World War II. However her at 34 she was too old (and not heavy enough for her height) to enlist and anyway as a mathematics professor her job was considered essential to the war effort. However she was determined to join the Navy and, despite being told that she could serve her country best by remaining in her teaching post at Vassar College, she eventually persuaded the Naval Reserve to accept her in 1943 and she also persuaded Vassar College to grant her leave.

After initial training at Midshipman's School, after which she was commissioned a Lieutenant, Hopper was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at the Cruft Laboratories at Harvard University. From 1944 she worked with Aiken on the Harvard Mark I computer [7]:-

On her arrival at Cruft Laboratory she immediately encountered the Mark I computer. For her it was an attractive gadget, similar to the alarm clocks of her youth; she could hardly wait to disassemble it and figure it out. ... Hopper became the third person to program the Mark I.

Aiken gave her as a first programming task immediately she arrived at Harvard which was to:-

Compute the coefficients of the arctan series by next Thursday.

By the end of the war, Hopper was working on the Harvard Mark II computer. It was in this machine that the first actual "computer bug" was found: a moth which shorted one of the 17 000 relays in the machine.

In 1946 Hopper ended her active duty with the Navy but remained a duty reservist. She resigned her post at Vassar College so that she could remain at Harvard where she was appointed a Research Fellow in Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics in the Computation Laboratory. She continued to work on the Mark II, then later on the Mark III computer.

In 1949 Hopper joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation as a Senior Mathematician and there she worked with John Eckert and John Mauchly on the UNIVAC computer. She designed an improved compiler while working for the company and was part of the team which developed Flow-Matic, the first English-language data-processing compiler [12]:-

In 1952 she had an operational compiler. "Nobody believed that," she said. "I had a running compiler and nobody would touch it. They told me computers could only do arithmetic."

Hopper's reason for designing a compiler was, she wrote later, because she was lazy and hoped that the introduction of compilers would allow the computer programmer to return to being a mathematician. Indeed it may seem obvious to us today that this would be the route forward for computers but it was an extremely far sighted idea from Hopper. In fact thinking about how computers have developed, particularly with systems such as Mathematica and Maple available today, one sees the rather remarkable vision that Hopper had of how computers would become such an important tool for mathematicians.

In 1950 the Remington Rand Corporation had acquired the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and changed its name to the UNIVAC Division of Remington Rand. Hopper became a Systems Engineer and Director of Automatic Programming Development of the UNIVAC Division. She continued her work on compilers, publishing her first paper on that topic in 1952. She then participated in the work to produce specifications for a common business language. Since Flow-Matic was the only existing business language at that time, it was inevitable that it should provide the foundations for the specification of the language COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language) which eventually came out in 1959. She had another important aim relating to compilers, namely that there should be standardisation. Her aim was that there should be international standardisation of computer languages and she strongly advocated validation procedures.

Hopper was never one to hold a single job at any one time. She was involved both with the academic world and with the Navy during the time that she held her positions in the Remington Rand Corporation, then from 1955 in the Sperry Corporation which had merged in that year with Remington Rand. Her connections with the academic world were many, sometimes visiting positions as in 1959 when she was a Visiting Lecturer at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania. She was a consultant and lecturer for the United States Naval Reserve up to her retirement in December 1966, by which time she had reached the rank of Commander.

The Navy and Hopper were not apart for very long for, in August 1967, she was recalled to active duty in the Navy. At this time she took military leave from the Sperry Corporation and did not return to that job, retiring from it in 1971 when she reached 65 years of age. Her return to the Navy was intended to be for only a six months period [5]:-

... at the request of Norman Ream, then Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy for Automatic Data Processing. After the six months were up, her orders were changed to say her services would be needed indefinitely. She was promoted to Captain in 1973 by Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr, Chief of Naval Operations. And in 1977, she was appointed special advisor to Commander, Naval Data Automation Command, where she stayed until she retired.

Active service in the Navy did not prevent Hopper holding academic appointments, and she was a Lecturer in Management Sciences at George Washington University between 1971 and 1978.

When Hopper retired from the Navy in August 1986, at 80 years of age, she was the oldest active duty officer in the United States. She had reached the rank of Rear Admiral, being promoted to the rank of Commodore in a White House ceremony in December 1983, then becoming Rear Admiral Hopper in 1985. At a celebration held in Boston on the USS Constitution to celebrate her retirement, Hopper was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award possible by the Department of Defense.

After a career which involved many jobs in numerous quite different areas, one might have expected her to look forward to a quiet retirement. However, this was not her style and, remarkably, she was appointed a senior consultant to Digital Equipment Corporation after retiring from the Navy, a position she held until 1990. Her job involved representing [3]:-

... Digital at computer industry forums, making presentations on advanced computing concepts and the value of information and data, and serving as a corporation liaison with educational institutions.

In her long career Hopper received so many awards that it would be impossible to note more than a few in this article. She was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (1962), a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1963), and received Achievement Awards from the Society of Women Engineers (1964) and from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (1968).

Hopper was named the first computer science Man of the Year by the Data Processing Management Association in 1969. In 1970 she received the Harry M Goode Memorial Award, a medal and $2,000 awarded by the Computer Society:-

For her pioneering work and leadership in the development of computer software, and for her impact and influence on the computing profession and her fellow colleagues, and for her pioneering work and leadership in the development of important concepts for mathematical and business compilers, and for her contributions to the development and acceptance of English-language, problem-oriented programming, and for her outstanding work and continued efforts in the education and training of men and women for careers in computer science and data processing.

She became the first woman to be elected Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society in 1973, being the first American elected to this honour. Also in 1973 she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the Legion of Merit. Hopper collected a remarkable number of honorary degrees, receiving at least 37 between 1972 and 1987.

In 1991 President George Bush awarded Hopper the National Medal of Technology. She was [3]:-

... the first woman to receive America's highest technology award as an individual. The award recognises her as a computer pioneer, who spent a half century helping keep America on the leading edge of high technology.