Serving in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1986, and with a background in computer science and technology, Hopper was convinced that it was possible to make a programming language based on the English language. Before the 1950’s, computer programming was done through machine code, which made writing commands much more difficult than they needed to be - she created what was referred to as the first “compiler” which allowed programmers to write in their native language, and then translated it into machine code so that it would work. After this accomplishment, and many more like it, Hopper died in her sleep of natural causes at the age of 85 in 1992. Inspiration:
“The only phrase I’ve ever disliked is, ‘Why, we’ve always done it that way.’ I always tell young people, ‘Go ahead and do it. You can always apologize later.'”