Grace Hopper (1906-1992)
I’m going to take you back to 1947. To Harvard University, where a huge, US Navy-financed, electromechanical computer called the Harvard Mark II – also known as the Aiken* Relay Calculator – was malfunctioning.
One of the leading engineers working in the Navy’s program, Admiral Grace Hopper, investigated. And found the bug; an actual insect. It had become trapped and was disrupting the electronics.
Someone (possibly Hopper but maybe not) recorded the incident in the logbook – along with the actual moth, taped to the page. Gritty!
It’s a popular misconception that this was how ‘bug’ started being used to mean a flaw or glitch. In fact, Thomas Edison
reported ‘bugs’ in his designs as early as the 1800s. But Hopper's moth does seem to be the first recorded case of a computer bug.
– Thanks to Euan for highlighting this story
Further reading about Grace Hopper:
Grace Hopper's bug (Atlas Obscura)
Grace Hopper – The Navy And Computers (Smithsonian Institute)
World's First Computer Bug (National Geographic)
*I can't help but point out the name of the computer – the Aiken Relay Calculator – which was built and programmed by Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper 🤦♀️
