Grace Murray Hopper, born December 9, 1906, was a Math professor that enlisted in the United States Navy at the start of World War II. Over the time of her enlistment, Hopper developed several new programming languages, including COBOL, which is still one of the most used programming languages today. Hopper was also one of the first people to coin the term “computer bug”. Over the course of her life, Grace Hopper influenced many people through her service in the military and led a movement in modern electronics through her work.
Born in 1906 in New York, Grace Hopper grew up a curious child. From a young age she tinkered with small electronics, which included taking apart clocks and other machinery. Her mother taught her geometry, which was a frowned upon practice at the time. Murray went to college and attained bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Physics. Just two years later in 1930, she obtained a Master’s degree in Mathematics from Yale, and became a mathematics instructor at Vassar. During her time as an instructor she obtained a Ph.D. from Yale and was then promoted to instructor. In 1936 she published a paper in a Mathematic journal, American Mathematical Monthly called “The ungenerated seven as an index to Pythagorean number theory".
When War World II broke out, Grace Hopper made the difficult decision to enlist in the war effort as a naval reserve offer. However, she was both underweight and too old to enlist, as well as serving in a “critical position” as determined by the Navy. The Navy asked Hopper to remain a citizen; however, Hopper came back with a medical waiver, special permission from the government, and a leave of absence from Vassar College (Riddle, Agnes Scott College). She graduated from midshipman’s ...
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...ray Hopper, USN." Naval History and Heritage Command. US Navy. Web. 30 Sept. 2011. .
"Grace Murray Hopper: Pioneer Computer Scientist." San Diego Supercomputer Center. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. .
Li, Jiehong, and Rona Abraham. "History of COBOL." COBOL. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. .
O'Connor, J. J., and E. F. Robinson. "Hopper Biography." MacTutor History of Mathematics. University of St Andrews, July 1999. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. .
Riddle, Larry. "Grace Murray Hopper." Agnes Scott College - A Private, Liberal Arts Women's College in Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. Agnes Scott College, 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 26 Sept. 2011.
From the book the admirals I picked up a lot of knowledge and interesting facts that I was unaware of before I had read it. The Admirals takes place before, during and after World War II which goes on to explain how four different men who were enlisted in the navy were promoted to become the only Five-Star Fleet Admirals in American history. These four men were perhaps one of the biggest, if not the biggest reason that the Allied forces had won the war. The four men that received the honor and rank of Five-Star Fleet Admiral were “William D. Leahy, Ernest J. King, Chester W. Nimitz, and William F. Halsey”.
Specific Purpose: To inform the class about Ada Lovelace. She is considered to be one of the pioneers of computer science and modern technology.
Dr. Grace Murray Hopper was known as a phenomenal computer scientist, mathematician and rear admiral in the United States Navy. She was a strong force in developing programming languages in technology. She is responsible for contributing work to the Harvard Mark I and the Univac I computer and many other components of technology in the 1940’s and 50’s era. Hopper’s skills allowed her to create the compiler for programming languages. Her ideals lead to the creation of COBOL known as common business oriented language. Hopper’s excellent skills help build what is today’s source of technology all around the world. Today, Grace Hopper’s help with programming languages is what helps us to easily use computers. Many of us don’t know the work it takes into building a computer that efficiently works the minute we command it to. The hardest part about a computer is making a computer understand you and you being able to understand it back. Her contributions allow us to play our video games, send emails, and even shop all at our computer.
Burton, David. M. (2010). The History of Mathematics: An Introduction, Seventh Edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Some other notable contributions in the past came in the 40's while most men were off in WWII and women were forced to hold many of the jobs left behind. Grace Hopper made one of the biggest breakthroughs: inventing the first English-based programming language, which was later used to develop COBOL. Today terms she was remembered for are also still used like bug and debug [2].
Jean Bartik (née Jennings) was a famous mathematician that was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC computer. Born in 1924 in a rural county in Missouri with six other siblings, Jean and her family all had backgrounds in teaching so her proficiency in mathematics at a young age was no surprise. “When she entered Northwest Missouri State Teachers College she intended to take a degree in journalism, but she did not like her advisor so quickly decided to change to major in mathematics” (O'Connor and Robertson, 2012). This was when she became the black sheep in her family because she was the only one who didn’t go into education.
outstanding mathematician and astronomer and he did write several works including Problems of Arithmetic, a book on music, and one on algebra before he was 25 years old.
Joseph-Louis Lagrange was born on January 25, 1736 in Turin, Sardinia-Piedmont (which is now known as Italy). He studied at the College of Turin where his favorite subject was classic Latin. After reading Halley’s 1693 work on the use of algebra in optics Lagrange became very interested in mathematics and astronomy. Unfortunately for Lagrange he did not have the benefit of studying with the leading mathematicians, so he became self-motivated and was self-taught. Then in 1754 he got the opportunity to publish his first mathematical work, which was an analogy between the binomial theorem and the successive derivatives of the product functions. Lagrange sent some of his works to Euler and impressed him greatly. Euler was so overcome that by his work that he appointed Lagrange professor of mathematics at the Royal Artillery School in Turin. Then in 1756 he was elected to the Berlin Academy. This then led Lagrange being a founding member of what would eventually become the Royal Academy of Science in Turin. In 1766, Lagrange accepted Euler’s position as the director of the Berlin Academy. While director of the academy Lagrange produced some of his greatest work. In 1772 he shared a prize with Euler on the three body problems. Two years later he won a prize on the motion of the moon, and then in 1780 he won a prize on perturbations of the orbits of comets by the planets. Lagrange was made a member of the committee of the Academi...
On the 29th of April in the year of 1854 Henri Poincare was born in Nancy, France. He was born into a very influential and sophisticated family. His father was a professor of medicine at the University of Nancy, his sister married a spiritualist philosopher, and his cousin was the President and Prime Minister of France. Henri was said to be a very ill child because of diphtheria. He received special, private teaching from his mother because of this. It is said that Henri had excellent memory and could memorize lines and pages of text that he had read. He could also remember everything that he heard, word for word. Obviously, Henri was very talented, but he also had his defaults. He was physically very clumsy and lacked talent in the arts. This, however, wouldn’t hamper him from becoming one of the greatest mathematicians in history.
Leonhard Euler was born on April 15, 1707 to pastor, Paul Euler, and grew up with two younger sisters in Basel, Switzerland. By the time he was thirteen years old, Euler had already begun attending lectures at Basel University, and graduated in 1723 with his master’s degree. Euler’s father urged him to further his education by studying theology. Euler complied, but insisted on spending all of his free time studying mathematics. Euler’s teacher, Johann Bernoulli, was very impressed with the articles Euler wrote on reverse trajectory and valued him as a student. By 1727, under Bernoulli’s urging, Euler applied to join the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, but due to financial instability at the academy, Euler decided to join the Russian Navy for three years to assure regular income. After a few years, Euler’s financial situation had increased, and he was able to marry Katharina Gsell and have fifteen children with her. Unfortunately, only three boys and two girls survived. In 1741, Euler worked in the Berlin Academy of Sciences, as head of the Berlin Observatory, while he also tutored the nieces of King Frederich II of Prussia. No matter his age, Leonhard Euler was always very interested in the world of math...
Herman Hollerith became the next computer engineer in history. He used electricity to count the census and successfully started a business called the Tabulating Machine Company. When World War 2 began, inventors incited use of the computer in creating undisclosed messages so the enemy could not find out strategies. That is when colossus was created. It was the secret of World War 2.
The fist computer, known as the abacus, was made of wood and parallel wires on which beads were strung. Arithmetic operations were performed when the beads were moved along the wire according to “programming” rules that had to be memorized by the user (Soma, 14). The second earliest computer, invented by Blaise Pascal in 1694, was a “digital calculating machine.” Pascal designed this first known digital computer to help his father, who was a tax collector. Pascal’s computer could only add numbers, and they had to be entered by turning dials (Soma, 32). It required a manual process like its ancestor, the abacus. Automation was introduced in the early 1800’s by a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage. He created an automatic calculation machine that was steam powered and stored up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Unlike its two earliest ancestors, Babbage’s invention was able to perform various operations. It relied on cards with holes punched in them, which are called “punch cards.” These cards carried out the programming and storing operations for the machine. Unluckily, Babbage’s creation flopped due to the lack of mechanical precision and the lack of demand for the product (Soma, 46). The machine could not operate efficiently because technology was t adequate to make the machine operate efficiently Computer interest dwindled for many years, and it wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that people became interested in them once again.
Numbers are swirling. Papers are flying. The man ponders with great focus on his work. He is pursuing the greatest achievements known to man; the revolutionization of the world of mathematics. This man’s name would go down as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. His name is Leonhard Euler. Leonhard Euler lived during the 18th century in Sweden and Russia. Euler came from humble origins, initially living in a small two-room house. When Euler was 14, his father hired a math tutor for him. His father, Paul Euler, deemed that the school’s teaching was insufficient. Incidentally, Euler fell in love with the subject immediately and began pursuing an education in the realm of mathematics. It was thanks to his father that Euler developed a passion for learning. Euler not only contributed to multiple mathematical fields, but also made gigantic leaps in areas such as physics, engineering, and music theory. Some of his most famous works being: complex analysis, the gamma function, infinitude of primes, the
“Since the invention of numbers, humanity has tried to make instruments to help in performing calculations” (Moreau 4). Before 3000 B.C. there were tablets used for calculating. The Ancient Chinese used a bead frame for counting. Although rather innovative, neither of these calculating devices was automatic. In the early 19th century, a British astronomer and mathematician had an idea that would change the history of computing forever. His name was Charles Babbage and he described a machine that would have the ability to do a variety of calculations. Because the mechanical-engineering technology of that time period was not reliable or fast enough, he was unable to produce his dream. Babbage’s idea was based on the mathematical insights of George Boole, who first stated the principles of logic used in today’s digital computers (Computer 1). Also, Ada Lovelace, Babbage’s assistant, is known as the first programmer because she introduced program loops and subroutines.
Now we look at Charles Babbage, who many say is the father of computers. Charles Babbage was a professor of mathematics. In the 1800's Babbage designed an automatic calculation machine. This machine was steam powered and could store up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Charles Babbage was so ahead of his time, that the machines that were used back then were not even precise enough to make the parts for his computer. Gulliver, states: