Grace Hopper

Main menu

“Getting frustrated only stops you.”
Grace Hopper

When World War II began, Grace Murray Hopper (1906–1992) was a PhD mathematician teaching at Vassar College. She joined the US Navy in 1943 and applied her math skills to writing code for the Mark I, a new electromechanical calculator at Harvard’s Cruft Laboratory. Hopper’s instructions for running complex computations were punched into paper tapes, like the segment from “Problem L” seen here. (Problem L calculated mathematical tables that had applications in radio, sound, and frequency modulation.) Hopper was one of the first woman programmers. In her lifelong computing career, she pioneered ways to make communication between humans and computers more user-friendly.

archivescenter-hopper-grace-ac0324-0000036-750-inline-edit.jpg

Lieutenant (j.g.) Grace Hopper and US Navy Specialist I, Third Class, Durward White inspecting the Mark I’s sequence mechanism, 1944. Grace Murray Hopper Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, AC0324-0000036. © Smithsonian Institution

archivescenter-hopper-grace-ac0324-0000028-19-750-inline-edit.jpg

A long strip of paper, about 3 inches wide. The upper and lower edges have regular rows of perforations. The center of the tape has punch holes carrying the program code. The words “Prob L” and “Tape R4A” are stamped at the top of the strip, and regularly-spaced red vertical lines have been drawn across the tape and numbered 870, 880, 890, 900, 910, and 920.

A segment of punched tape code for Problem L, run on the Mark I around 1945. Problem L calculated mathematical tables that had applications in radio, sound, and frequency modulation. Grace Murray Hopper Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, AC0324-0000028-19. © Smithsonian Institution

archivescenter-hopper-grace-ac0324-0000015-450-inline-edit.jpg

A typewritten sheet of paper delineating the work assignments on the Mark I computer for Problem L, which calculated mathematical tables that had applications in radio, sound, and frequency modulation. The last line states: computed, designed, coded, babied, nursed, pleaded with and mothered by Lt. (j.g.) Grace Murray Hopper, USNR.

A lighthearted summary of the distribution of work on Problem L, run on the Mark I around 1945. Problem L calculated mathematical tables that had applications in radio, sound, and frequency modulation. Grace Murray Hopper Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, AC0324-0000015. © Smithsonian Institution

artifacts-hopper-grace-89-12792-450-inline-edit.jpg

A round green metal badge, about 1.5 inches in diameter. The words “Cruft Laboratory Harvard University” are printed around the outer edge, and the words “Staff No. 62” are printed in the center of the badge.

Source for quote above: domer1987, “Oral History Interview of Captain Grace Murray Hopper by Angeline Pantages,” Domer1987’s Blog (blog), August 12, 2010, https://domer1987.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/oral-history-interview-of-captain-grace-murray-hopper-by-angeline-pantages/.