Motivations and Early Influences in Mathematics
Grace Hopper's motivation that led her to be a programming pioneer is due to her natural curiosity and support from her family. Her father believed that she and her sister Mary should have the same oppertunities as her brother. He also wanted all of his children to know how to do everything practical in life like cooking and figuring out how to fix things on their own. Her mother, who was a women interested and math and her father, a man interested in engineering, both gave these genes to their daughter. These traits combined with the support from her family gave Hopper the confidence to move forward in the field of computers, a field which was virtually unexplored by women.
Motivations and Early Influences in the Navy
Grace Hopper was motivated to join the United States Navy reserve after Pearl Harbor. Her bold personality and knowledge with computers were used the help serve her country. Even though she was small and underweight for her age and hight, she helped her country by programming the Navy's Mark I computer. Hopper, full with the idea of the importance of change went forward boldly as not only the first to program the Mark I, but was brave enough to take on this role despite being a woman. Any obsticle that she encountered was conqured thanks to her childhood developed by a supporting family.
