You have all seen Google Doodles, the whimsical cartoons the search giant uses in place of their standard logo from time to time to mark special occasions. It's usually easy to figure out what the doodle represents (for example, a turkey theme on Thanksgiving Day), but sometimes those toons can be inscrutable. In those cases you can usually click on the graphic and it will take you to a page explaining what is being celebrated that day. 

However, when confronted by a head-scratching Doodle I try to guess before throwing in the towel and clicking the link to learn something. I had to punt today after seeing Google's home page featuring a Doodle depicting a woman sitting at the console of an old school super computer. It has been awhile since computers took up that much space (a good bit more real estate than the smartphones we now carry around in our pocket or purse that are more powerful than those "super" computers from back in the day)!

Computer Pioneer USN Admiral Grace Hopper
(1906-1992)
Photo: Wikipedia Commons 

I learned that the woman depicted at the console was one of the earliest computer pioneers (as well as a U.S. Navy Rear Adimiral!), the remarkable Grace Hopper, who lived from 1906-1992. I also learned that when I am lamenting yet another computer bug, the term I am using for the malfunction was coined by none other than Admiral Hopper back in 1945 (before even I  was born, so you know we are talking about the Stone Age of computing here). It also turns out there is a reason why we don't call these infuriating hiccups computer "hoppers". As Time Magazine told the story today, a real bug - as in insect - prompted Ms. Hopper's choice of the term.