A Woman Programmed One of the First Computers

Dr. Grace Murray Hooper programmed one of the first computers. She graduated with a BA in mathematics and physics from Vassar, and later started teaching at the college. In 1930 she earned an MA from Yale University, and in 1934 she received her PhD. She resigned from Vassar and began to purse her love for engineering at Harvard’s Computation Laboratory where she began to work on the Mark I computer. She was only the third person to program the Mark I and received the Naval Ordnance Development Award for her pioneering applications on Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III.

Hooper believed the obstacles with computers came from the lack of experience of the programmers themselves because the machines were so new. She was an innovative programmer and left a legacy of her exceptional technical skills and persistence. Not only was it a big advancement for a woman to be an engineer and program computers in the 1930’s and 1940’s, but she proved women are just as capable as men to be scientists and engineers in the STEM fields. Read more at http://www.engineergirl.org/Engineers/HistoricalEngineers/4416.aspx