 |
 |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
   
|
|||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| So you're into sci fi? But what about sci fact? Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction... Each month our very own Voyager Science Queen* will bring you interesting, quirky and downright bizarre tasty morsels from the world of science. And its all completely, totally, 100% true! July Sci-Facts |
Science Page July 2008Amazing Grace "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission" I haven’t done a scientist’s biography for a while. I thought I should do a catch up biography for this month’s page. So, as everyone who reads this site has to be interested in computers at some level, I picked someone who helped develop the structure of modern computers and the computer industry – Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, nicknamed the Amazing Grace. The dry facts: Grace Brewster Murray was born in New York in 1906. She received a PhD in Mathematics in 1934, from Yale University. She married Vincent Hopper in 1930, and they divorced in 1945. She died on the 1st of January, 1992. "I believe in having an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out." In 1943, Grace Hopper was sworn into the United States Navy Reserve where she became the first programmer on the Navy's Mark I computer. She was released from active duty in 1946, and to continue her work with the Mark II and Mark III computers. She worked on developing COBOL (common-business-oriented-language). Even though she was a mathematician, it was her idea to develop a computer language based on English rather than mathematical symbols or machine code. Rear Admiral Hopper worked developing the UNIVAC I , which stands forUNIVersal Automatic Computer I. This was the first commercial computer made in the United States, for use in industry rather than for military or scientific purposes. She did work on the compilers. She went on to help develop the standards for testing computer systems. She has been accredited with popularising the words ‘computer bug’ ‘debugging’, when she removed a dead moth from a relay. Rear Admiral Hopper wasn’t good at retirement; she had retired actice duty from the Navy after WWII but she was asked to return to active duty in August 1967. She was assigned to the Chief of Naval Operations' staff as Director, Navy Programming Languages Group. She was the oldest serving officer in the US Navy at the time of her final – involuntary – retirement. She worked as a consultant senior for the Digital Equipment Corporation until eighteen months before her death. She remained active in education all her lifer, right up until the time of her death. As you can see, the Amazing Grace had a full and interesting career.
|
| *The Voyager Science Queen is also known as Lynne Green So, who is this woman who attempts to entertain us with Science? Well, I really am a scientist. I have a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Queensland, in Zoology. And, at the moment, I am working in a Pathology laboratory. I have always been intensely curious about every aspect of our universe, from the teeny tiny workings of the gene right up to the mind-bending forces that are twisting and knotting inside a blackhole. So, now I am sharing a brain stuffed full of trivia...and hopefully entertaining people at the same time. As well, I write Fantasy stories and novels. One day, I hope to have a book published, but don't hold your breath. Reading is my other major love, and my favourite authors are Terry Pratchett and Isaac Asimov, though I could list hundreds of others. If I had one wish, I ask for more time to write! Read previous Sci-Facts: Red Mars Looking for more scientific oddities? Have you checked out Dr Steven Juan's website? He is, quite literally, the wizard of odds! |
Home | Books | Authors | Community | News | Contact us | FAQ | Sitemap Terms of use | Privacy Policy | Copyright © 2003 HarperCollinsPublishers Australia. All rights reserved. |