GRACE HOPPER GOOGLE DOODLE

Posted by George Freund on December 9, 2013

Google honors an icon in computing today December 9th. Grace Hopper a former Admiral in the United States Navy, mathematician, and computer scientist gets the birth nod. Many of the connotations are straight and to the point. We have a data set that takes us into the dimensions of computer code and language in a unique way. If we look at the letters OOE, we get the computer term Out of Order Execution. This allows a computer to work on things outside of the manner in which they were entered. It allows us to skip sequence.

Grace earned her PH. D. from Yale and taught at Vasser. In 1943 she joined the Navy as a Wave. She had to get an exemption because she was under weight. She was assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard. There she worked on the Mark I computer. After the war she joined Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation on the UNIVAC project. It was prepared for the 1950 Census. In the McCarthy era the company was accused in the red scare. Company President John Mauchly was the suspect individual. UNIVAC was used in tabulating results for the 1952 Presidential election. Eisenhower 'won' I guess. Richard Nixon was his running mate. The company became part of Remington Rand and today is UNISYS. The Remington Rand Building is on Park Avenue in NYC. It was constructed in 1911 in case we need a 9/11 reference. UNISYS is the military industrial complex Eisenhower warned us about. They developed South Africa's national identification system. They operate the largest RFID system for the US military. They are ranked the 44th on the Top Corporate Criminals of the 1990's list. In 2006 they were investigated by the FBI for lapses in the DHS contract. The notorious Jack Abramoff was their lobbyist. They are currently working on cloud computing.



UNIVAC on CBS TV, election night, 1952

Grace developed the computer programming language COBOL COmmon Business-Oriented Language. She stayed in the Navy far longer than normal. When she was forced to retire it was with the rank of Rear Admiral. She was the oldest person in the Navy at the time 79 years, eight months and five days. She was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal at the time on the USS Constitution the oldest commissioned US naval vessel at the time August 14, 1986. She served 188 years, nine months and 23 days. She fought Barbary pirates and was in the Mediterranean Squadron a place still position by the US Navy. A ship bearing her name the USS Hopper is stationed in the Middle East. She departed Pearl Harbor September 6th.



I entered the ages of Grace and the USS Constitution on her retirement day into the search engine to see what it would tell me. The results were interesting. On MAPS as co-ordinates I was taken to a location around Manila, The Philippines even though those weren't the co-ordinates. When I changed east with west it made no difference. Admittedly there is no 188 degrees, but the search engine revealed this hand. I also got a quote from the Bible as well. Psalm 79 is most illuminating.


Psalm 79:8
1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

8 Remember not against us the former iniquities, but make haste, and let thy tender mercies prevent us: for we are in great misery.



The end result of the doodle question is 107. Psalm 107 has a great deal to say too.


Psalm 107
1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

107 1 The Prophet exhorteth all those that are redeemed by the Lord and gathered unto him, to give thanks, 9 for this merciful providence of God governing all things at his good pleasures, 20 sending good and evil, prosperity and adversity to bring men unto him. 42 Therefore as the righteous thereat rejoice, so shall the wicked have their mouth stopped.



Grace ended her career with Digital Equipment Corporation, but did she end? Is she living on? In a way yes. One of the world's most powerful supercomputers was named after her. It is a Cray XE6. It is the 5th most powerful in the world. It is located at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center NERSC formally known as the Controlled Thermonuclear Research Computer Center or CTRCC. Considering the revelvance of the Psalms that may be very pertinent. The sea referred to is The Red Sea. The Nimitz battle group is stationed there.

Grace passed away on New Year's Day 1992. New Year's Day is just weeks away. Will we see challenges in the Middle East or will our direction head towards Manila? I hope that they didn't transfer Grace's mind into the Hopper. With the work on Singularity nothing is out of reach.

“It is better to beg forgiveness, than ask permission.”

“A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.”

“Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down."

(CBS 60 Minutes interview, March 6, 1983)”

“The wonderful thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from.”

“Life was simple before World War II. After that, we had systems.”

― Grace Murray Hopper