Page 80 - JSOM Fall 2022

rebel territory, obtaining information from enslaved Af­
rican Americans while at the same time watching Con­ US NAVY REAR ADMIRAL
federate troop movement, locations, ammunition depots, GRACE HOPPER
and supply lines.
One of the first programmers of the
In 1862, she traveled to Beaufort, South Carolina, and Harvard Mark I computer, computer
spent 3 years nursing soldiers and African Americans scientist and US NAVY REAR ADMIRAL
who were recently liberated from slavery. Lastly, as a GRACE HOPPER was a pioneer of
guerilla fighter in 1863, under the command of Colonel computer programming who invented
James Montgomery, during the Combahee Ferry Raid, one of the first linkers. Hopper was
Tubman became the first woman to lead an armed mil­ the first to devise the theory of
itary assault. She and 150 African American soldiers machine­independent programming
from the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment at­ languages, and the FLOW­MATIC
tacked plantations and destroyed Confederate mines, programming language she created using this theory
storehouses, and crops along the Combahee River in was later extended to create COBOL, an early high­level
South Carolina. During this raid, she and her fellow programming language still in use today.
black soldiers rescued 700 slaves. After the war ended,
she waged a long campaign to receive recognition for Prior to joining the Navy, Hopper earned a PhD in
her service in the military; in 1899, she was awarded mathematics from Yale University and was a professor
$20/month for a nurse’s pension. of mathematics at Vassar College. Hopper attempted to
enlist in the Navy during World War II but was rejected
because she was 34 years old. She instead joined the
Navy Reserves. Hopper began her computing career in
LT ANNIE G. FOX
1944 when she worked on the Harvard Mark I team. In
1949, she joined the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Cor­
LT ANNIE G. FOX was the head nurse
at Honolulu’s Hickam Field (now poration and was part of the team that developed the
Hickam AFB) on December 7, 1941. UNIVAC I computer. At Eckert–Mauchly she managed
Lt Fox joined the Army Nurse Corps the development of one of the first COBOL compilers.
in 1918, at the end of the First World She believed that a programming language based on
War. While no stranger to military English was possible. Her compiler converted English
service, the early morning surprise at­ terms into machine code understood by computers. By
tack at Pearl Harbor landed her in 1952, Hopper had finished her program linker (origi­
combat for the first time. The 47­year­ nally called a compiler), which was written for the A­0
old quickly took control of the situation as bombs System. During her wartime service, she co­authored
rained down on the base. Firsthand accounts of the at­ three papers based on her work on the Harvard Mark 1.
tack by hospital staff described a terrifying and chaotic The US Navy Arleigh Burke­class guided­missile de­
situation. Enemy airplanes flying so close and low that stroyer USS Hopper was named for her, as was the Cray
the nurses could see the pilots talking to each other, fol­ XE6 “Hopper” supercomputer at NERSC. During her
lowed by explosions and masses of black smoke after lifetime, Hopper was awarded 40 honorary degrees
each dive. Casualties poured into the hospital within from universities across the world. A college at Yale Uni­
minutes of the first bombing run. As Head Nurse, Lt versity was renamed in her honor. In 1991, she received
Fox rallied the nurses and organized the hospital’s re­ the National Medal of Technology. On November 22,
sponse to the assault. The wives of officers and NCOs 2016, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential
reported to the hospital to help, and Lt Fox organized Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
the civilian volunteers to make hospital dressings by the
hundreds and assist with patient care. Lt Fox herself
participated in surgery, administering anesthesia, during COLONEL RUBY BRADLEY
the heaviest part of the bombardment. Afterward, she,
with the other nurses, tended to the wounded. COLONEL RUBY BRADLEY was a US
Army Nurse Corps officer, a prisoner
Without the bravery and quick action of women like
Annie Fox, many more American servicemen would of the Japanese in World War II, and
likely have died. In recognition of her exemplary service one of the most decorated women in
on the morning of December 7, 1941, Fox was awarded the US military. Bradley entered the
the Purple Heart, the first woman to receive the award. US Army Nurse Corps as a surgical
When the criteria for the Purple Heart changed, she was nurse in 1934. She was serving at
awarded the Bronze Star, the fourth highest combat Camp John Hay in the Philippines
award of the US Armed Forces. In March 2017, Hawaii when she was captured by the Japanese army 3 weeks
Magazine named Lt Fox as one of the most influential after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1943, Bradley was
women in Hawaii history. moved to the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila.

76 | JSOM Volume 22, Edition 3 / Fall 2022