Grace Murray (Hopper) was born in New York City on 9 December 1906. She graduated from Vassar College in 1928 and received a PhD in Mathematics from Yale University in 1934. She was a member of the Vassar faculty from 1931 to 1943, when she joined the Naval Reserve. Commissioned a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) 1944, she was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance and immediately became involved in the development of the then-embryonic electronic computer. Over more than four decades to follow, she was in the forefront of computer and programming language progress.

Leaving active duty after the war's end, Dr. Hopper was a member of the Harvard University faculty and, from 1949, was employed in private industry. She retained her Naval Reserve affiliation, attaining the rank of Commander before retiring at the end of 1966. In August 1967, Commander Hopper was recalled to active duty and assigned to the Chief of Naval Operations' staff as Director, Navy Programming Languages Group. She was promoted to Captain in 1973, Commodore in 1983 and Rear Admiral in 1985, a year before she retired from the Naval service. She remained active in industry and education until her death on 1 January 1992.

USS Hopper (DDG-70) is named in honor of Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper.

This page features formal and informal photographic portraits of Grace Murray Hopper and a picture related to her early computer work.

Other images of Rear Admiral Hopper

• Informal images of Grace Murray Hopper during the 1970s


• Informal images of Grace Murray Hopper during the 1980s

Additional information on Rear Admiral Grace Hopper NHHC Biographies

Click photograph for a larger image

Photo #: NH 96923 Captain Grace M. Hopper, USNR, Director of Programming Languages for the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Photographed by PH1 Richard Pendergist, 1975. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, NHHC. Online Image: 104KB; 740 x 570
Photo #: NH 96921 Captain Grace M. Hopper, USNR, Head of the Navy Programming Language Section of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Working in her office, 1 August 1976. Photographed by PH2 David C. MacLean. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, NHHC. Online Image: 82KB; 590 x 765
Photo #: NH 96919-KN (Color) Commodore Grace M. Hopper, USNR Official portrait photograph, taken 20 January 1984. Photographed by James S. Davis. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, NHHC. Online Image: 104KB; 590 x 765
Photo #: NH 96920-KN (Color) Commodore Grace M. Hopper, USNR, Special Assistant to the Commander, Naval Data Automation Command. Speaking during groundbreaking ceremonies for the Grace M. Hopper Regional Data Automation Center, at Naval Air Station, North Island, California, 27 September 1985. Photographed by PH2 Michael Flynn. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, NHHC. Online Image: 77KB; 590 x 765
Photo #: NH 96930 Commodore Grace M. Hopper, USNR, Special Assistant to the Commander, Naval Data Automation Command. Attends groundbreaking ceremonies for the Grace M. Hopper Navy Regional Data Automation Center at Naval Air Station, North Island, California, 27 September 1985. Photographed by PH2 Michael Flynn. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, NHHC. Online Image: 82KB; 495 x 765

The following image shows an organism of great historic significance, reportedly first identified and named by Lieutenant Grace Murray Hopper while she was on Navy active duty in 1947.

Photo #: NH 96566-KN (Color) The First "Computer Bug" Moth found trapped between points at Relay # 70, Panel F, of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator while it was being tested at Harvard University, 9 September 1947. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found". They put out the word that they had "debugged" the machine. In 1988, the log, with the moth still taped by the entry, was in the Naval Surface Warfare Center Computer Museum at Dahlgren, Virginia. Courtesy of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, VA., 1988. NHHC Collection Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 615