The First Computer Bug

Grace Bewster Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 mdash;January 1, 1992), nee Grace Brewster Murray, was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral.She was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer in 1944, invented the first compiler for a computer programming language,and was one of those who popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first high-level programming languages. She is credited with popularizing the term "debugging" for fixing computer glitches.

A moth found trapped between points at Relay # 70, Panel F, of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator while it was being tested at Harvard University, 9 September 1947. The operator, Grace Hopper affixed the moth to the computer log, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found." They put out the word that they had "debugged" the machine, thus introducing the term " debugging a computer program."