1982 Grace Hopper Lecture

Shortly before the 30th annual Grace Hopper Celebration, the National Security Agency (NSA) released an inspiring internal lecture that Rear Adm. Grace Hopper herself delivered in 1982, “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People.”

The lecture is available to watch in two parts [Part One | Part Two] on YouTube, and features Hopper discussing some of the potential future challenges of protecting information. She also provided valuable insight on leadership, as well as her experiences breaking barriers in the field of computer science.

"The most important thing I've accomplished, other than building the compiler, is training young people. They come to me, you know, and say, 'Do you think we can do this?'

I say, 'Try it.' And I back 'em up. They need that. I keep track of them as they get older and I stir 'em up at intervals so they don't forget to take chances."

- Rear Adm. Grace Hopper

Hopper was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, and is a celebrated a pioneer of computer programming. She was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages, and the FLOW-MATIC programming language she created was later extended to create COBOL, an early high-level programming language that is still in use today.

In 2016, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rear Adm. Hopper the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the Nation’s highest civilian honor, awarded to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interest of the U.S. — for her remarkable influence on the field of computer science. She was also the first woman to receive the National Medal of Technology in 1991.

Purple-tinted vintage graphic with a grayscale of Rear Admiral Grace Hopper wearing her Navy uniform and glasses. Text reads: “NSA releases copy of internal lecture delivery by computing giant Rear Adm. Grace Hopper | Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People”

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