[rlmorel]

Dang! How is it that computer stuff can make me feel so old! By the way, this woman gave my commencement speech when I graduated from college-do you recognize her?...:)

(I know...her name tag gives her away!)

[topspinr]

Yes, i know her. Grace Hopper.

We both enlisted in the Navy the same year. She was 45 years old and i was 18.

She was top Navy Officer in charge of computer systems for all nine US Naval Shipyards.

I believe she developed the COBOL Language for Main Frames.

[logician2u]

Yep, Grace Hopper was what you'd call sui generis. What a great woman she was, and a great speaker for any occasion, graduations especially.

60 Minutes ran a segment on Rear Admiral Hopper before her last retirement from the Navy. The highlight (from my point of view) was her using a "visual aid" to describe a nanosecond: she held up a length of wire a little less than a foot long. Most viewers probably had no idea, and most still don't, that light and radio waves take a little time to travel any distance.

[PLMerite]

Is she the person who came up with the term “bug,” and it meant a real insect in the computer?