--- description: Grace Hopper is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century. title: Grace Hopper: 100 Women of the Year image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d142a2ca5e1ff88/698a0af04ee2621fee317289/social-1959_Grace-Hopper.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 1959: Grace Hopper Mar 5, 2020 11:36 AM CUT  Buy the cover art→ Buy the cover art→Illustration by Marc Burckhardt for TIME; Alamy by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2020 11:36 AM CUT Grace Hopper graduated from Yale in 1934 with a mathematics Ph.D., and her service in the U.S. Navy Reserve during World War II put her on the front lines of computer science in the 1940s. By 1959, she had helped to create and popularize COBOL, one of the first standardized computer languages. As a pioneer in programming, Hopper shaped the world of software as we know it today—and [paved the way for women everywhere](https://time.com/4892094/google-diversity-history-memo/ "undefined") to thrive in math, computer science and service to their countries. In 2016, President Obama posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying, “If Wright is flight and Edison is light, then Hopper is code.” _—Susan Fowler_ _Fowler is the author of_ [Whistleblower](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525560122/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525560122&linkId=3377fe6b901384e03ef9294aa3ffe9da "undefined") [**Buy the cover art→**](https://fineartamerica.com/featured/grace-hopper-1959-time.html "undefined") --- _This article is part of_ [_100 Women of the Year_](https://time.com/100-women-of-the-year/ "undefined")_, TIME’s list of the most influential women of the past century. Read more_ [_about the project_](https://time.com/5793734/time-100-women-of-the-year-issue/ "undefined")_, explore the_ [_100 covers_](https://time.com/5793732/time-100-women-of-the-year-covers/ "undefined") _and sign up for our_ [_Inside TIME newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters?newsletter%5Fname=INSIDE%5FTIME&source=article-woy-footer "undefined") _for more._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5793591/grace-hopper-100-women-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5793591/grace-hopper-100-women-of-the-year/"},"headline":"1959: Grace Hopper","datePublished":"2020-03-05T11:36:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:20:58.766Z","description":"Grace Hopper is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century.","url":"https://time.com/5793591/grace-hopper-100-women-of-the-year/","keywords":["Women of the Year","Women of the Year - Tech/Athletes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d142a2ca5e1ff88/698a0af04ee2621fee317289/social-1959_Grace-Hopper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d142a2ca5e1ff88/698a0af04ee2621fee317289/social-1959_Grace-Hopper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SOCIAL - Women of the Year: 1959_Grace-Hopper","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5793591/grace-hopper-100-women-of-the-year/","name":"1959: Grace Hopper"}}]}] ```