Today is Ada Lovelace day. A day when we shine a strong light on the great women of computing, or girl-geeks, that we want to bring attention to. Working in a womens profession I have no problem finding some great names that should be acknowledged, but today I want to go outside the library profession and our own age.
Grace Hopper
I thought I would write a little about one person I learnt about when I started working for the Norwegian Navy. Her name is Grace Hopper, also called “Amazing Grace”, who during the second world war worked for the United States Naval computing department and after the war was an important part in developing computing languages such as COBOL and promote computers as a tool to young adults.
What is important is that Grace Hopper, who retired as an rear admiral, was a woman who never let opposision stop her from making a contribution. She entered the male dominated field of computing and by perseverence and intelligence made a place for herself. I get more impressed everytime I learn something new about Grace Hopper, and I hope you who read about her remember what a pioneer she was.
I’m really happy that the U.S. Navy honored her with the naming of the destroyer USS Hopper. It is good to see such a male dominated institution honor a woman and her contribution.
I will of course reccomend a great book on Grace Hopper:
Grace Hopper : admiral of the cyber sea
Kathleen Williams
Annapolis : Naval Institute Press, 2004
ISBN: 1557509522
Happy Ada Lovelace day, and happy Grace Hopper day!
I'm a norwegian librarian.
I had the honor of meeting Admiral Hopper briefly, informally, during a computer conference quite a few years ago. She was a great woman and force in the industry.
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