Actions in the Computer Field
Grace Hoppers actions in the field of computers made the foundation of compuers today. In 1946 when Hopper joined the Sperry Rand Computer Corporation, she worked on the first commerical electronic computer. This computer was called the UNIVAC (universal automatic computer). It was much faster than the Mark series computers and was put together with COBOL (common business oriented language). The compiler COBOL allowed the UNIVAC to be able to translate information between english and the language of the computer. When the computer went live in 1952, the UNIVAC I predicted Eisenhowers win in the presidential campaign only after 7% of the votes had been entered. Compilers like COBOL are still the basis of modern programs like C++.
Actions in the Navy
Grace Hopper contributed many years to the military, many of which helped them program and operate the U.S. Navy's Mark computer series. When Hopper joined the Navy as part of the Bureau of ordnance Computation Project at the Cruft Laboratory at Harvard University in 1946, she was the first person to program the Mark I computer. The Mark I served the Navy all during World War II. After the war, Hopper also worked on the Mark II and the Mark III computers. These advancements of computers was important within the Navy. And even after career of programing in the Navy, she held lectures teaching others of what she had learned and invented, extending her passion for change to the younger generation. Hopper was the first woman to reach the rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy.
