Grace Brewster Murray was born on December 9, 1906. I knew nothing about her until six years ago. Kate McDevitt, a friend shared wanted to honor Grace and all women inventors with connections to Philadelphia with a walk of fame.
She wanted the University of Pennsylvania, and the IEEE organization to acknowledge Grace’s contributions to the world of science, mathematics, computer engineering, and the United States Military.
Met with no’s from everyone she approached with this idea, Kate, much like Grace was a bit stubborn and very passionate that she would make this happen.
I rode with her throughout Philadelphia tracing Grace Hopper’s steps looking for the most appropriate place for a walk of fame.
The Mathematics, Civics, and Sciences Charter School at 447 North Broad Street was the perfect place.
School founder, Veronica Joyner agreed. A bronze plaque was created, permits applied for, a celebration was planned, and the Walk of Fame happened.
Then sadly the school closed.
The International Milestone for Grace Hopper was open again!
After writing and rewriting proposals, with too many rejections to mention and with the help of Celia Shahnaz, the new advocate, the IEEE History Committee finally approved the Grace Hopper Milestone with her name on the plaque, which is a first.
The University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and IEEE then decided it was time to honor Grace Hopper for her invention of the compiler.
While working on the Univac, one of the first commercial computers Grace Hopper explored ways to use the computer to code. In 1952 she developed the first compiler called A-O. The A-O translated mathematical code into machine-readable code. Read that sentence again. This was a huge step toward creating modern programming languages.
Hopper in a computer room in Washington, D.C., 1978, photographed by Lynn Gilbert
For Hopper, the A-0 compiler was an important step in making programming accessible to everyone. “We were also endeavoring to provide a means people could use,” she said. “Plain, ordinary people, who had problems they wanted to solve.”
“Grace was an inspiration and a pioneering archetype of the computer engineer,” said Jing Li, Eduardo D. Glandt Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor in ESE and CIS. “She was a master of the physical machine and how to program both for performance and human effort.”
“I’m a direct inheritor of the A-0 compiler, which sparked my entire field,” said Stephanie Weirich, ENIAC President’s Distinguished Professor in CIS.
Grace Hopper earned a Ph.D. in mathematics and mathematical physics from Yale University. She became a professor of mathematics at Vassar College before joining the Navy Reserves during World War II. She ultimately reached the rank of rear admiral, no easy feat for anyone, especially a woman.
“Without Grace Hopper,” said Rear Admiral Michael Richman, the Navy’s Deputy Commander for Cyber Engineering, “the contours of our current Navy Mission, our digital transformation, and the entire field of digital and cyber engineering would simply not exist as they are today.”
Grace retired from the Navy in the 1980s. She was the oldest active-duty commissioned officer in the entire fleet.
Hopper received the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the highest non-combat decoration awarded by the Department of Defense.
“She painted the picture for what computing would be like,” said Dr. Laura Stubbs, Senior Director in the Penn Engineering Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, who also served in the Navy, attaining the rank of captain, and who met Hopper while teaching at the Naval Academy.
In 1949, After her work on the Harvard Mark 1, she was hired by the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation in Philadelphia as a senior mathematician and she joined the team developing the UNIVAC I. The Compiler A-0 eventually grew into the Flow-Matic used to create COBOl, a widely used program still in use today.
In 1949 she was part of the team that developed the Univac 1 Computer.
The Naval destroyer USS Hopper, the Cray XE6 “Hopper” supercomputer, and the Nvidia Superchip “Grace Hopper” were all named for her in her lifetime.
Grace received 40 honorary degrees from universities around the world. A college at Yale was renamed in her honor. In 1991 she received the National Medal of Technology.
On November 22, 2016, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
It’s no wonder her nickname was Amazing Grace.
Finally, on May 7, 2024, because of the efforts of Kathleen McDevitt the Vice Chair of Philadelphia’s Section of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), and Andre DeHon Professor in Electrical Systems Engineering (ESE) and in Computer and Information Science (CIS), the IEEE Milestone award plaque was placed in the Moore building of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.
The IEEE Milestone recognizing Grace Hopper’s development of the A-0 compiler will live in perpetuity next to the ENIAC.
“Our professions have a long, rich, and important history,” added Kathleen Kramer, IEEE President-elect, “and it’s essential that the pioneering technological developments and discoveries and people behind them are preserved for generations to come.”
The plaque was placed in the room next to the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, the ENIAC the first general-purpose computer which was developed at Penn.
“This milestone celebrates the first step of applying computers to automate the tedious portions of their programming. It is fitting to host this milestone at Penn from which the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation was spun out and where she lectured,” said DeHon.
“Ms. Hopper enjoyed long and influential careers in the U.S. Navy and the computer industry,” said Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering, “including 15 years of teaching here at the University of Pennsylvania as a lecturer in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, which we all take great pride in being part of our school’s history.”
In a ceremony beforehand, speakers from Penn Engineering, the U.S. Navy, and IEEE testified to the magnitude of Hopper’s accomplishments.
From left: Stephanie Weirich, ENIAC President’s Distinguished Professor of Computer and Information Science (CIS); Jing Li, Associate Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering (ESE); Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean; Laura Stubbs, Sr. Director of Penn Engineering’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Rear Admiral Michael S. Richman, Deputy Commander for Cyber Engineering for the U.S. Navy; Kate McDevitt, IEEE Philadelphia Section Vice Chair; Kathleen A. Kramer, IEEE President-Elect; and André DeHon, Professor of ESE, standing in front of the new IEEE milestone.