Amazing Grace and the superhighway

Icouldn't move my eyes away from the television and the formidable figure on the screen. A little old lady, wearing a U.S. Navy uniform, waving a short piece of wire and forcefully speaking of "nanoseconds" commanded my view. Grace Hopper was largely unknown to the public and completely unknown to me in 1983. However, she was about to leave the obscurity of the computing world and teach us all a lesson.

Grace Murray Hopper was born Dec. 9, 1906, in New York City. Her mathematical intellect was evident as a young child and her curiosity regarding the working of mechanical items led her mother to ban her from taking apart any more of the household clocks.

Her interests were boundless. She made the furniture, curtains and rugs for the dollhouse she kept all her life. She learned to knit, do needlework and took piano lessons. She mastered several languages, played basketball, took a ride in a barnstorming plane and earned a doctorate in mathematics and physics — a rarity for a woman at the time.

In the early years of World War II, Grace, a teacher at Vassar College, volunteered to join the U.S. Navy and despite failing to meet the minimum weight requirement was allowed to join the WAVES (Women Accepted for Emergency Service) and received assignment to the Bureau of Ordinance Computation Project. This assignment would change her career from a college teacher to a computer pioneer.

It was a wartime rush and the "computer engine" Grace faced had many errors. Her task was to program the Mark I into a workable machine for the Navy. During this time, a relay in the computer failed and upon inspection, Grace and others found a dead moth in the relay. Plucking it out and placing it in the logbook, Grace remarked that they had "debugged" the computer. She was later credited with popularizing the term.

After the war, Grace stayed in the Navy saying, "it was more fun to program Navy computers than to teach college," and continued her work that foreshadowed the enormous developments in digital computing.

The idea that led to her perhaps best-known accomplishment, the development of the AO compiler, came from her days playing basketball as a youth. The forward pass, which moved the ball ahead from one player to another became her inspiration for the compiler and her later achievement, co-developing COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language).

Grace continued her naval career, retiring and "unretiring" twice before involuntarily retiring in 1985 as the oldest officer in the U.S. Navy and the only woman admiral in its history. However, Adm. Grace Hopper did not retire from continuing to teach us lessons.

With her nickname of "Amazing Grace," she continued her work in the private sector and continued to stress the value of education. She emphasized the importance of understanding the nanosecond — defined as the distance electricity could travel in one-billionth of a second, which she illustrated with an approximate 11.8-inch piece of wire. She continued to be a woman of almost visible energy with an irreverent, lively speaking style and a motto of "go head and do it, it's easier to apologize later than get permission."

She was a futurist in the world of computers. Her work encompassed the basis of digital science and she made the space for women to participate in the sciences on an equal basis. During her long and valuable service, Grace received many awards, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit.

Later, in 1997, the Navy commissioned the USS Hopper, a guided missile destroyer, to serve proudly with her name — only the second time a warship had been named for a woman from the Navy's own ranks.

As Grace accepted each award, she would say gracious thanks for the honor but always added, "I have already received the highest award, which is the honor and privilege of serving proudly in the United States Navy." Throughout her life, with respect to her many accomplishments, she was most proud of her service to her country. She died Jan. 1, 1992, and was buried with full naval honors in Arlington National Cemetery on Jan. 7.

A proud Naval officer, a brilliant scientist, a bold, gutsy woman. An amazing, Grace.

— Jo Ann Goff lives in Thousand Oaks.