The First Computer Bug!
The First Computer Bug! Date: 23 Aug 1981 05:38:25-PDT From: ARPAVAX.sjk at Berkeley Subject: origin of bug
Ever wondered about the origins of the term “bugs” as applied to computer technology? U.S. Navy Capt. Grace Murray Hopper has firsthand explanation.
The 74-year-old captain, who is still on active duty, was a pioneer in computer technology during World War II. At the C.W. Post Center of Long Island University, Hopper told a group of Long Island public school administrators that the first computer “bug” was a real bug — a moth. At Harvard one August night in 1945 1947, Hopper and her associates were working on the “granddaddy” of modern computers, the Mark I Mark II. “Things were going badly; there was something wrong in one of the circuits of the long glass-enclosed computer,” she said. “Finally, someone located the trouble spot and, using ordinary tweezers, removed the problem, a two-inch moth. From then on, when anything went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it.”
Hopper said that when the veracity of her story was questioned recently, “I referred them to my 1945 1947 log book, now in the collection of Naval Surface Weapons Center, and they found the remains of that moth taped to the page in question.”
The logbook is currently on display at the National Museum of American History … see: NMAH | Log Book With Computer Bug
2008-02-17: I received an email from a publisher asking permission to cite this page in a textbook for 10th grade students … here is our correspondence.
Last update: 2008-09-06 by
Incoming search terms for the article:
Similar articles
- IT Reminder: The First “Computer Bug”
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 1945. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, with the entry: “First actual case of bug being found”. They put out the word that they
... - : The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis: Techniques for Experimental…
This seminal book was the most complete mainstream text on the subject when it was first published in 1991. The reason it remains popular eleven years later (which is an extraordinary life for a computer book) is because it’s an applied mathematics book that focuses solely on performance analysis, simulation and measurements. Technology may change
... - Scientist infects himself with computer virus
A senior research fellow in the U.K. says he has become the first person in the world to be infected by a computer virus. Technically, the chip Mark Gasson inserted into his hand is infected, which one could argue keeps the virus limited to the domain of the chip even though it lives inside the
... - : Computer Networking: A Top
I’m a graduate student in Comp Sci, and I recently had the opportunity to take a networking class again just to refresh my basic knowledge (my dissertation topic isn’t related to networks). It was a pleasant surprise for me that the class utilised this textbook. I have been at the university level in CS for
... - Not All Memory Is Created Equal Part 2
Part I: Basics and Types Memory Speed The speed of the memory will determine the rate at which the CPU can process data. The higher the clock rating on the memory, the faster the system is able to read and write information from the memory. All memory is rated at a specific clock rate
...