Rear Adm. Grace Hopper.<p>She wrote the first compiler which she was assured couldn&#x27;t be done after already doing it, she rose to the top of a male dominated field and did it on merit, she took a leave from Vasser to join WAVES (womens volunteer corp during WWII) as a junior lieutenant, refused to retire and ended up a Read Admiral.<p>Ada gets a lot of respect as the &#x27;first&#x27; female programmer but Hopper is at least as significant imo.<p>&gt; The most important thing I&#x27;ve accomplished, other than building the compiler, is training young people. They come to me, you know, and say, &#x27;Do you think we can do this?&#x27; I say, &quot;Try it.&quot; And I back &#x27;em up. They need that. I keep track of them as they get older and I stir &#x27;em up at intervals so they don&#x27;t forget to take chances