America, at the height of World War II, needed a lot of good recruits to the armed services. No shortage of folks, most of them young men, answered the call, filling the recruiting stations across the country.
Into one of those stations walked a would-be recruit. In some ways this person was like many others: moved by the events of Pearl Harbor and the other terrible things happening in the world to volunteer to serve and fight for freedom against the forces of fascism.
But in other ways this was a very unusual recruit: a woman, in her mid-thirties, and a college professor who had earned her Ph.D. at Yale. One might think that the military would jump at the chance at the chance to recruit a mathematical genius.
But they told her “no.” She was too old, they said, and sent her on her way.
Some months later she tried again. And she was told “no” again. This time she was told it was because she weighed less than the minimum weight required.
Some months later she tried again. This time she was rejected, they told her, because her position as a mathematics professor was too valuable to national security for her to be spared for military service.
Like a real-life Captain America she tried . . . again. This time, finally, at the age of 37, they said “yes.” And Professor Grace Hopper, Doctor of Mathematics, became the newest officer in the United States Navy.
This vignette demonstrates two things about Grace Hopper. She knew what she wanted, and she didn’t take no for an answer.
. . .
For more, listen to the Podcast episode and check out my book, History Stories for Everyone, where I dive deeper into this and some of history’s other most fascinating and relatable human stories:
