cross-posted from: https://lemmy.capebreton.social/post/517037
At 3:45 p.m., Grace Murray Hopper records ‘the first computer bug’ in the Harvard Mark II computer’s log book. The problem was traced to a moth stuck between relay contacts in the computer, which Hopper duly taped into the Mark II’s log book with the explanation: “First actual case of bug being found.” The bug was actually found by others but Hopper made the logbook entry.
I’ve seen people try to claim that this was actually the first computer bug, or worse the origin of the term, but that log entry very clearly establishes that the term was already in use in the modern sense of error/glitch and she was making the pun.