[extropy-chat] USS HOPPER is named for Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

[Terry W. Colvin]

USS HOPPER is named for Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, whose pioneering 
spirit in the field of computer technology led the Navy into the age of 
computers. During her career, she was know as the "Grand Lady of Software,"
"Amazing Grace" and "Grandma Cobol" after co-inventing COBOL (common
business-oriented language). COBOL made it possible for computers to respond to
words instead of just numbers, thus enabling computers to "talk to each other."

Rear Adm. Hopper retired from the Naval Reserve in January 1967, but was 
recalled to active duty in August 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson because
of her much-needed expertise in applied computer science. Rear Adm. Hopper 
retired a second time in August 1986. She passed away on Jan. 1, 1992. This is 
the first time since World War II, and only the second time in Naval history, 
that a warship has been named for a woman from the Navy’s own ranks.

-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
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