Google Doodle celebrates American computer scientist Grace Hopper’s 107th birthday

London – Google is commemorating the 107th birthday of American computer scientist and US Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper.

Hopper, born Grace Brewster Murray in 1906, is most celebrated for her pioneering work in the development of COBOL, one of the first programming languages that could work independently of a particular machine.

According to the Independent, Hopper is also known for her popularisation of the word ‘debugging’, dating from an anecdote when an actual moth was found in a computer she was working on, and that was slowing down its processes.

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College in 1928 with a degree in Mathematics and Physics and then studied at Yale and married once to a professor before divorcing him but retaining his surname, Hopper.

The report said that she worked in the Navy during World War Two as a computer programmer, before finally retiring at the age of 79.