Grace Hopper’s graduation from Midshipman’s School, 1944
Grace Hopper upon graduation from Midshipman’s School, June 27, 1944. Grace Murray Hopper Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
The First “Computer Bug”
The First “Computer Bug”, September 9, 1945. Courtesy of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, VA., 1988. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
Commodore Grace M. Hopper, USNR
Official portrait photograph of Commodore Grace M. Hopper, USNR, January 20, 1984. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
Grace Hopper was born on December 9, 1906 in New York City. She was the first of her parents’ three children. Grace was fortunate to grow up in a wealthy family that highly valued education. Her father, Walter Fletcher Murray, was an insurance salesman. Her mother, Mary Campbell Van Horne Hopper, was a housewife who loved to study math and encouraged Grace’s interest in the subject. Grace’s maternal grandfather was a civil engineer for the city of New York and often took Grace on surveying trips.
Grace’s family encouraged her to explore. When she was seven years old, she took apart her alarm clock to see how it worked. When she could not put it back together, she decided to expand her study by taking apart the seven other alarm clocks found throughout her family’s large house. Her mother supported her interest, but asked Grace to focus on one clock in the future. Later in life, Grace would describe her childhood as a place full of educated relatives, supportive parents, and a house full of books that fed her “insa