"It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission" ~ Grace Hopper
Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 - January 1, 1992) was a computer scientist and Naval Officer in the United States during WW2.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics Hopper went on to obtain her Phd from Yale University.
She developed the first compiler for a computer programming language which later led to the development of COBOL (earning Hopper the nickname Grandma Cobol). She is also credited with coining the term 'debugging' for fixing computer glitches.
In 1973 she became the first American citizen as well as the first woman to be made a Distinguished fellow of the British Computer Society.
At the time of her retirement from the Navy in 1986, Hopper was the oldest serving officer, at the rank of Rear Admiral (equivalent to a one star general) where she earned the Defense Distinguished Service Medal.
She is believed to have coined the term nanosecond and was known to explain the concept of such by walking and distributing lengths of wire, explaining the speed in which light had to travel.
Hopper later went on to become a Harvard professor as well as earn the National Medal of Technology. In 1996 the U.S Navy named a destroyer ship after Hopper (The USS HOPPER DDG-70). There is also a street named after Hopper in California as well as a memorial park in Arlington, Virginia known as the Grace Murray Hopper Park.
Another recognition, a group of employees from Microsoft (3000 strong) call themselves 'The Hoppers' and have established a scholarship in honor of Grace Hopper.
