When you hear the words computer genius who comes to mind? Bill Gates? Steve Jobs?  How about a 63 year old female naval officer named  Grace Murray Hopper?

Born before women had the right to vote, Grace never conformed to type. As other little girls played with dolls,  Grace preferred taking things apart and examining them to see how they operated. While attending Vassar college, she studied mathematics and physics and was so proficient she tutored other students. She did her post-graduate studies at Yale, where she earned both a master’s degree and a doctorate in mathematics by 1934.

During World War II she argued with the Navy to allow her to enlist even though she was in a protected profession that was considered too valuable to go to war. She asserted that she would be able to make a greater contribution in the Navy than a classroom, and after a year of arguments they relented and allowed her to enlist.

She worked at Harvard in the Bureau of Ordinance Computation Project department. Although she had no experience in computers, with her determination and willingness to learn she was soon a master of the computer she was working on. Coincidentally, one day while she was working her computer malfunctioned because of a moth caught in the wiring. Grace removed it and taped it to her report. Hence the term ‘a bug in the system’ was born.

When the war ended she began employment at Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, working on a team that was developing the first commercial computer in the United States.

At the time computers were being used solely for mathematics, but Grace believed computers could be programmed for communication.  She was ridiculed and told that it was impossible for computers to understand language, but Grace ignored the doubters and followed her heart. “When you have a good idea and you’ve tried it and know it’s going to work, go ahead and do it,” she said, “because it’s easier to apologize later than it is to get permission.”

In 1952 Grace invented COBOL (Common Business Operating Language) a computer language for data processors, and the first computer compilers. The foundation she laid is part of  the computer programs that run our banks, businesses and government that were developed by drawing on her innovations. Her pioneering work in programming is even found in today’s highly popular computer games.

It was Grace’s ingenuity that for the first time enabled the computer to be seen as something useful in both business and the private sector.

So, the next time you fire up your computer to surf the net or connect with family and friends, thank a woman…thank Grace Murray Hopper.