[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 593 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 593

  Honoring the life and legacy of Grace Hopper, professor, inventor, 
      entrepreneur, business leader, and Rear Admiral of the Navy.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 25, 2018

   Mr. Wyden (for himself and Mrs. Fischer) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Honoring the life and legacy of Grace Hopper, professor, inventor, 
      entrepreneur, business leader, and Rear Admiral of the Navy.

Whereas Grace Hopper was born on December 9, 1906, in New York City, New York;
Whereas, in 1928, Grace Hopper graduated with honors from Vassar College with 
        degrees in physics and mathematics;
Whereas Grace Hopper would go on to earn both her masters degree and Ph.D. from 
        Yale University, earning her Ph.D. in 1934;
Whereas, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States 
        into World War II, Grace Hopper felt called to serve her nation and 
        enlisted in the Navy;
Whereas Grace Hopper was assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at 
        Harvard University, where she worked on the first electromechanical 
        computer in the United States, which was known as the MARK I;
Whereas, while assigned to the Computation Project, Grace Hopper--

    (1) served as second in command in charge of operations;

    (2) wrote the 561-page user manual for the MARK I, considered the first 
book about modern computers; and

    (3) used the MARK I to solve various wartime mathematical problems for 
the Navy that saved thousands of lives, including the implosion problem for 
the Manhattan Project;

Whereas, after World War II, Grace Hopper remained in the Navy as a reservist, 
        continuing to work on the MARK II and MARK III computers;
Whereas, in the 1950s, Grace Hopper helped pioneer the computer industry at the 
        Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and Remington Rand, where she 
        assisted in developing the Universal Automatic Computer I and II, the 
        first commercial electronic computers;
Whereas, while working on the Universal Automatic Computer I and II, Grace 
        Hopper invented the first compiler, which is the cornerstone of modern 
        automatic programming;
Whereas, in 1953, Grace Hopper was the first person to theorize code as words 
        instead of symbols, which was considered impossible by her peers, and 
        after 3 years her team was using the first written-word programming 
        language;
Whereas the development of a written-word programming language was an incredibly 
        important step in the development of computer science, as it allowed 
        people who lacked advanced engineering and mathematics backgrounds to 
        program computers;
Whereas, in 1959, Grace Hopper organized leaders from government, the private 
        sector, and academia to create a universal business computer programming 
        language called ``common business-oriented language'', or ``COBOL'';
Whereas, in 2018, COBOL supports over 30,000,000,000 transactions per day and 90 
        percent of all global financial transactions;
Whereas throughout her work in the private sector, Grace Hopper remained a naval 
        reservist until the age of 60, calling her required retirement from the 
        Naval Reserve ``the saddest day of my life'';
Whereas, just a few months after her retirement from the Naval Reserve, 
        ``Amazing Grace'' was called again to the Navy for active service, where 
        she would serve for another 19 years until her final military retirement 
        as Rear Admiral of the Navy at the age of 79;
Whereas Grace Hopper has received many honors for her groundbreaking ideas and 
        contributions over the years, including becoming the first inductee to 
        the Computer Hall of Fame, receiving the U.S. National Medal of 
        Technology, the naming of the destroyer USS Hopper in her honor, and 
        receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom;
Whereas, of all of the contributions and service of Grace Hopper, she considered 
        her work as a mentor and teacher the most valuable;
Whereas Grace Hopper once remarked that ``If you ask me what accomplishment I'm 
        most proud of, the answer would be all the young people I've trained 
        over the years'';
Whereas, today the ``Grace Hopper Celebration'' is the largest gathering of 
        women in computing with 18,000 attendees in 2017;
Whereas Grace Hopper passed away January 1, 1992, at the age of 85, and was 
        interred with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery; and
Whereas Grace Hopper served as a trailblazer for other women and men who would 
        follow her in the field of computer science, academia, and the Armed 
        Forces: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate honors the pioneering ideas and service 
of Grace Hopper, professor, inventor, entrepreneur, business leader, 
and Rear Admiral of the Navy.
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