Hopper wrote a 500-page Manual of Operations for the Automatic Sequence-Controlled Calculator in which she outlined the fundamental operating principles of computing machines. Her team worked on and produced the Mark I, an early prototype of the electronic computer. In 1944, she was commissioned as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) and assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard University. In 1943, Hopper resigned her position at Vassar to join the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service).
After graduating with her bachelor’s degree, Hopper went to Yale University, where she earned her Masters and PhD in Mathematics. Afterwards she began teaching at Vassar College. As a child, she attended a preparatory school in New Jersey. Hopper was born on Decemin New York City. Little did her family know, her curiosity would eventually gain her recognition from the highest office in the land. As a child, she would often take apart household goods and put them back together.
