Chapter 1 procession Old fashioned alarm clocks contained many gears which made it hard for Grace to put her alarm clocks back together after she took them apart T A LOVE OF LEARNING race Murray was always fascinated by how things worked When she was just seven years old she took apart her alarm clock She wanted to know what made the clock ring But when she unscrewed the back plate gears and
springs fell out Grace did not know how to put them back together Luckily she had another alarm clock She could open it and see where all the gears went But this one had the same problem As soon as she opened the back everything fell out Grace opened five more alarm clocks The same thing happened each time When Grace's parents discovered the clocks they did not scold her They encouraged her love of learning In fact her mother let her have one alarm clock just so she could experiment on it Born in 1906 Grace was raised differently from most girls of the time She didn't like playing with dolls or tea sets These toys were popular between 1910 and 1920 Grace particularly liked toys she could build with N A INS
Instead she loved building things One of her favorite toys was a Struktiron construction kit It was a collection of movable parts motors and metal pieces Her parents encouraged her love of math and science Grace's father believed his daughters should have every opportunity that boys had SCHOOL LIFE Grace graduated from high school when she was only sixteen years old She applied to Vassar College so she could study Vassar College was founded in 1861 as a college for women 11 it till ii III iiii iiii iiiiii
math Unfortunately she failed the Latin portion of the entrance exam But this did not stop her She went to a college prep school to learn Latin She passed the test one year later In 1928 Grace graduated from Vassar with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics She went on to Yale University to obtain a master's degree in mathematics The same year she completed her master s she got married and changed her name to Grace Hopper Then Vassar asked her to take a teaching job She accepted She taught a wide range of math classes such as algebra calculus and statistics While she was teaching she continued studying at Yale In 1934 she received a doctorate in mathematics TECH TALK I would explain to my students it was no use trying to learn math unless they could communicate it with other people Grace Hopper on requiring her math students at Vassar College to write essays Rs 7
