NSA releases copy of internal lecture delivered by computing giant Rear Adm. Grace Hopper
26 Aug
2024
26 Aug
'24
8:12 a.m.
https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Press-Releases-Statements/Press-Release-View…
FORT MEADE, Md. — In one of the more unique public proactive
transparency record releases for the National Security Agency (NSA) to
date, NSA has released a digital copy of a lecture that then-Capt.
Grace Hopper gave agency employees on August 19, 1982.
The lecture, “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and
People,” features Capt. Hopper discussing some of the potential future
challenges of protecting information. She also provided valuable
insight on leadership and her experiences breaking barriers in the
fields of computer science and mathematics.
Rear Adm. Hopper was an American computer scientist, mathematician,
and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of
the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of computer
programming. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of
machine-independent programming languages, and the FLOW-MATIC
programming language she created using this theory was later extended
to create COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use
today. In 2016, President Obama posthumously awarded Rear Adm. Hopper
the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the Nation’s highest civilian
honor, awarded to individuals who have made especially meritorious
contributions to the security or national interest of the U.S. — for
her remarkable influence on the field of computer science.
While NSA did not possess the equipment required to access the footage
from the media format in which it was preserved, NSA deemed the
footage to be of significant public interest and requested assistance
from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to
retrieve the footage. NARA’s Special Media Department was able to
retrieve the footage contained on two 1’ APEX tapes and transferred
the footage to NSA to be reviewed for public release.
NSA recognizes Rear Adm. Hopper’s significant contributions as a
trailblazing computer scientist and mathematician, but also as a
leader.
"The most important thing I've accomplished, other than building the
compiler, is training young people," Rear Adm. Hopper once said. “They
come to me, you know, and say, 'Do you think we can do this?' I say,
'Try it.' And I back 'em up. They need that. I keep track of them as
they get older and I stir 'em up at intervals so they don't forget to
take chances."
26 Aug
26 Aug
9:44 a.m.
On Aug 26, 2024, at 11:12 AM, Christian Liendo via
cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Press-Releases-Statements/Press-Release-View…
Nice, thanks!
My wife and I still remember attending a lecture by Grace Hopper at DEC. For a while she,
and a handful of other early computer pioneers, was a DEC employee and traveled widely
delivering lectures on her work.
A detail we both remember well is her way to let the audience understand the small time
units that computers work with. She showed us a foot-long piece of wire and said
"This is a nanosecond". (I just worked out the corresponding visualization for
a picosecond: a grain of salt. Hm...)
paul
9:20 p.m.
I watched the first part and have started the 2nd. She's a great
lecturer with lots of insight.
I met her in 1974 and was able to have a short (10-15 minute) discussion
with her after her talk. Great lady.
TTFN - Guy
On 8/26/24 08:12, Christian Liendo via cctalk wrote:
https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Press-Releases-Statements/Press-Release-View…
FORT MEADE, Md. — In one of the more unique public proactive
transparency record releases for the National Security Agency (NSA) to
date, NSA has released a digital copy of a lecture that then-Capt.
Grace Hopper gave agency employees on August 19, 1982.
The lecture, “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and
People,” features Capt. Hopper discussing some of the potential future
challenges of protecting information. She also provided valuable
insight on leadership and her experiences breaking barriers in the
fields of computer science and mathematics.
Rear Adm. Hopper was an American computer scientist, mathematician,
and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of
the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of computer
programming. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of
machine-independent programming languages, and the FLOW-MATIC
programming language she created using this theory was later extended
to create COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use
today. In 2016, President Obama posthumously awarded Rear Adm. Hopper
the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the Nation’s highest civilian
honor, awarded to individuals who have made especially meritorious
contributions to the security or national interest of the U.S. — for
her remarkable influence on the field of computer science.
While NSA did not possess the equipment required to access the footage
from the media format in which it was preserved, NSA deemed the
footage to be of significant public interest and requested assistance
from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to
retrieve the footage. NARA’s Special Media Department was able to
retrieve the footage contained on two 1’ APEX tapes and transferred
the footage to NSA to be reviewed for public release.
NSA recognizes Rear Adm. Hopper’s significant contributions as a
trailblazing computer scientist and mathematician, but also as a
leader.
"The most important thing I've accomplished, other than building the
compiler, is training young people," Rear Adm. Hopper once said. “They
come to me, you know, and say, 'Do you think we can do this?' I say,
'Try it.' And I back 'em up. They need that. I keep track of them as
they get older and I stir 'em up at intervals so they don't forget to
take chances."
--
TTFN - Guy
1 Sep
1 Sep
2:30 p.m.
The first time I heard of her was on 60 Minutes in March of '83. (I
researched when it was.) I was in high school.
It is always interesting that some things are timeless: do and ask
permission later, the young are smarter than you think, leadership is both
ways, management is not leadership, McNamara was evil, etc.
The lecture is prescient about parallel processing and distributed
computing. Networking is implied, but not described explicitly.
-chuck
On Tue, Aug 27, 2024 at 12:46 AM Guy Sotomayor via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I watched the first part and have started the 2nd.
She's a great
lecturer with lots of insight.
I met her in 1974 and was able to have a short (10-15 minute) discussion
with her after her talk. Great lady.
TTFN - Guy
On 8/26/24 08:12, Christian Liendo via cctalk wrote:
https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Press-Releases-Statements/Press-Release-View…
> FORT MEADE, Md. — In one of the more unique public proactive
> transparency record releases for the National Security Agency (NSA) to
> date, NSA has released a digital copy of a lecture that then-Capt.
> Grace Hopper gave agency employees on August 19, 1982.
> The lecture, “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and
> People,” features Capt. Hopper discussing some of the potential future
> challenges of protecting information. She also provided valuable
> insight on leadership and her experiences breaking barriers in the
> fields of computer science and mathematics.
> Rear Adm. Hopper was an American computer scientist, mathematician,
> and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of
> the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of computer
> programming. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of
> machine-independent programming languages, and the FLOW-MATIC
> programming language she created using this theory was later extended
> to create COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use
> today. In 2016, President Obama posthumously awarded Rear Adm. Hopper
> the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the Nation’s highest civilian
> honor, awarded to individuals who have made especially meritorious
> contributions to the security or national interest of the U.S. — for
> her remarkable influence on the field of computer science.
> While NSA did not possess the equipment required to access the footage
> from the media format in which it was preserved, NSA deemed the
> footage to be of significant public interest and requested assistance
> from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to
> retrieve the footage. NARA’s Special Media Department was able to
> retrieve the footage contained on two 1’ APEX tapes and transferred
> the footage to NSA to be reviewed for public release.
> NSA recognizes Rear Adm. Hopper’s significant contributions as a
> trailblazing computer scientist and mathematician, but also as a
> leader.
> "The most important thing I've accomplished, other than building
the
> compiler, is training young people," Rear Adm. Hopper once said. “They
> come to me, you know, and say, 'Do you think we can do this?' I say,
> 'Try it.' And I back 'em up. They need that. I keep track of them as
> they get older and I stir 'em up at intervals so they don't forget to
> take chances."
--
TTFN - Guy
116
days inactive
122
days old
3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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Charles Dickman -
Christian Liendo -
Guy Sotomayor -
Paul Koning