Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

 "Grace Hopper and UNIVAC" by Unknown (Smithsonian Institution) -



Flickr: Grace Hopper and UNIVAC. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons -

 Harvard Mark I

 

In 1954 Grace Hopper was the only person in the world able to program the complier (software) for the UNIVAC computer in time for the Navy.

Grace Murray Hopper was born December 9, 1906 and died January 1, 1992. She was an American computer scientist (one of the first in the world) and United States Navy rear admiral. She was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer in 1944.

 

She invented the first compiler for a computer programming She is credited with popularizing the term “debugging" for fixing computer glitches (inspired by an actual moth removed from the computer).

 

Here's a picture of her notebook page showing the first computer bug.

Bill Nye’s Mom Was A World War II Code Breaker

You may know Bill Nye, The Science Guy from the wheeled-in TV cart at school or maybe from the YouTube video I showed to your class last year about probability. Bill Nye is real person and is a real scientist who believes that we need more students interested in science, math and engineering.

Bill Nye's Mother was a WWII code breaker She operated some of the first computers ever built. They were built for a single problem, breaking the German Enigma code in WWII.

Structure Films / Via vimeo.com

Here's a picture of Bill Nye as a kid with his Mom.

 

Structure Films / Via vimeo.com

For more information on what Bill Nye has to say about his Mom, click here.